
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Chap. Copyright No. 

Shelf_.X.^_-. 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR, 



GUIDE IN THE USE 



ADOPTED TEXT-BOOKS, 



J. P. THURMAN, 

Superintendent Rich Hill Public Schools, 



FRANK DEERWESTER, 

Assistant in Department of Pedagogy, Warrensburg State Normal. 



m - 1 1898 

RICH HILL, MO.V,U./,S. A., „. „ 

WARREN BROTHERS, FU:!^4fefig^go9l -* 



1898. 



^X^^ N^cVfjM "^^^ 






( -) 1 

Copyright, 1898, 
By J. P. THUKMAN, 

AND 

FRANK DEERWESTER. 



LblS5S 

■TS 



PREFACE. 

The authors of this book are not at war with existing 
educational conditions and ideals. Being Missourians by 
birth, educated largely in Missouri schools, and having 
been for years teachers of Missouri youth, they have faith 
in her educational system and hope for her future. 

It is a grand work that is going on in this state under 
the name of education. Within the narrow circle of their 
influence the authors have been contributing their mite 
toward the great end. Now they seek to widen this circle, 
modestly daring to hope that their humble efforts may not 
be in vain. 

Originality in the sense of startling novelty is not 
claimed for this book. It does not pretend to reveal the 
royal road to knowledge. The authors do not believe this 
is the best book on the subject of pedagogics that has 
ever been written. On the other hand they do believe 
that Experience, in her varied intercourse with them, has 
taught them some lessons which may be presented to 
others in a less expensive way. 

With 3,000 inexperienced teachers entering the pro- 
fession each year, with nearly 4,000 more having less than 
three years' experience in teaching, and with the new and 
improved series of text-books now going into use, there 
ought to be room for such a book at this time. 



6 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

The recommendations of this work are not believed to 
be radical. Conservatism in plan and method has been 
the aim. Nothing impossible or chimerical has been 
advocated. The aim is to direct the thoughtful, aspiring 
teacher, whether experienced or inexperienced, by safe 
paths, and yet possibly new ones, to higher ground — to 
direct not by an explicit "take thou," but by thought-pro- 
voking suggestions. These, so far as they may be of 
value, the artist will absorb and embody in his teaching. 
The artisan, the rote-teacher, will not be injured by them. 

The authors have sometimes been at a loss to know 
just how far to go in their recommendations. Writing for 
so mixed an audience is no easy task. In the main the 
plan has been to address themselves in a suggestive way 
to the majority of their prospective readers. The great 
teaching-body of Missouri has been the audience which 
imagination has convoked. No attempt has been made 
to show what can be done where all the engines and 
energies of a mighty city school system are turned in any 
given direction. On the other hand, it is confidently 
hoped that the work herein presented, as to matter and 
method, is such as will be an inspiration to many thou- 
sands in Missouri's noble army of teachers. 

The Authors. 



CONTENTS. 

PART I. 
CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

Course of Study for District School 9 

CHAPTER n. 
Daily Program for District School 29 

CHAPTER HI. 
Some Points of School Management 42 

PART II. 

CHAPTER I. 
Reading, Literature, Spelling 70 

CHAPTER H. 
Arithmetic 116 

CHAPTER HI. 
Language and Grammar 163 

CHAPTER IV. 
Geography in 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER V. 
History and Civil Government 216 

CHAPTER VI. 
Physiology 235 

CHAPTER VH. 

Vertical Writing 237 

Appendix 24S 



THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 



PART FIRST. 



CHAPTER I. 



COURSE OF STUDY. 



INTRODUCTION. 

The course of study which follows is not theoretical, 
nearly every part of it having been worked out, directly or 
indirectly, under the observation of its authors. Notwith- 
standing the dissimilarities of rural, village, and town 
schools, it is believed that this course of study is suitable 
for each. It may be said, however, that if any class of the 
three has, ' more than the others, been in the authors' 
minds, it has been the first — the rural school. To under- 
stand the foregoing remarks requires an appreciation of 
the authors' idea of the purpose of such a course for any 
kind of school. 

A course of study, they believe, is intended primarily 
to set forth the contemporaneous sections of those great 



lo THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

lines of human thought which are deemed worthy of the 
attention of persons in pursuit of knowledge. The primary 
question is not so much where the line shall be drawn be- 
tween the successive years as it is what work in language, 
science, numbers, etc., shall be pursued contemporaneously. 
This is the question of vital importance. The authors' 
answer to this question is the course of study. Incident- 
ally they have answered the former question, too, realizing, 
however, that "school year" is only a relative term — 
meaning anywhere from six to ten months. The work as 
outlined contemplates at least seven months. Eight will 
result in better work, and nine, of course, will be still more 
satisfactory. In some schools the work suggested for a year 
may be accomplished easily and more may be desired. If 
so, there are two courses open: one is taking up supple- 
mentary work of a related kind, the other is advancing 
into the work of the next year. Where schools can not do 
the work suggested, the opposite courses are open — omit- 
ting parts of least importance or ending the year at such a 
point as marks the well-completed work. It may be seen, 
therefore, that the course of study is to be used as a spirit- 
level to keep the structure plumb more than as a tape-line 
to ascertain the height. Character of work is deemed of 
greater significance than amount of work — a symmetrical 
advancement along all lines superior to an abnormal devel- 
opment along a single line. 

This unsymmetrical, "lop-sided," sort of development 
is so prevalent in rural schools that the authors sincerely 
hope that this work may, at least, do something toward 
bringing matters to rights once more. Where a pupil or a 



THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. ii 

school has advanced in this abnormal and unhealthy way, 
the evil can not be cured in a day. To attempt to do so 
would be unwise. Gradually must the pupil or the school 
be "evened up," by checking here and pushing there, de- 
voting little effort to one line, much effort to the other. 



12 



THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 



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THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 13 



B.— BY SUBJECTS, 



READING. 



FIRST YEAR. 

COURSE I: 

Complete thoroughly Franklin Primer and First 

Reader. 

Note: — Course I. is a minimum. It is suggested for schools 
having a term of average length, no chart, and no Werner 
Primer. In addition to completing the work one or two 
classics can be read with pleasure and profit by the class. 

COURSE II: 

Miss Striker's Chart for six weeks or two months. 

Franklin Primer and First Reader completed. 
Note: For schools having the chart. 

COURSE III: - 

Werner Primer, followed by a rapid reading of Frank- 
lin Primer. Complete thoroughly Franklin First 
Reader. 



SECOND YEAR. 

Franklin Third Reader completed. 

Supplemental work: Any two classics recommended for this 
grade. See Appendix. 



14 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

THIRD YEAR. 

Franklin Third Reader Completed. 

Supplementary work : Any two classics recommended for this 
grade. See Appendix. 



FOURTH YEAR. 

Franklin Fourth Reader, Part First (pp. 1-104.) 

Supplemental work: Any two classics recommended for this 
grade. See Appendix. 



FIFTH YEAR. 



Franklin Fourth Reader, Part Second (pp. 204-328.) 

Supplementary work : Any two classics recommended for this 
grade. See Appendix. 



SIXTH YEAR. 



Franklin Fifth Reader to page 201. 

Supplementary work: Any two classics recommended for this 
grade. See Appendix. 



SEVENTH YEAR. 



Franklin Fifth Reader, pp. 201-430. 

Supplementary work: Any two classics recommended for thlt 
grade. See Appendix. 



THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 15 

LITERATURE IN THE LOWER GRADES. 

1. Two classics are to be read critically as supple- 
mentary reading in each grade. 

2. If this plan be acted upon, it will be seen that at 
the end --f the common school course, sixteen 
classics will have been added to the student's 
store of knowledge — in the same time the readers 
are usually completed. 

3. Reading is fragmentary; classics are usually com 
plete, giving additional interest. 

4. Graded literature insures constant growth and 
S}'mmetrical development. 

5. The sixteen classics contemplated embody the 
best thoughts of all mankind of the past and pres- 
ent. 

6. The geography, history, home-life, religions, super- 
stitions, philosophy, the struggles, hopes, and aspi- 
rations of mankind are contained in these classics. 

7. The millions of boys and girls on the farm, in the 
village, factory, mine — everywhere — have a 7-ight 
to something better, and more complete, than what 
they have received in the past. Any country, 
village or ward school can do this supplementary 
work laid out in this course. 

8. The object of all reading, either regular or supple- 
mentary, should be to lead up to literature in its 
highest forms. 

g. Our adopted readers have on an average sixty- 
three lessons for each grade, leaving ample time 



i6 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

for at least one period each week to be set aside 
for supplementary reading. 
lo. The time spent will increase the interest in the 
regular classes in reading. 



SPELLING. 



SEVER' S PROGRESSIVE SPELLER. 

Note: Prof. Sever kindly furnished the graded course and the suggestions 
following: 

Second year, pages 1-30. 

Third year, pages 30-60. (Finishing Part I.) 

Fourth year, pages 60-90. 

Fiftli year, pages 90-120. 

Sixth year, pages 120-150. 

Seventh year, pages 150-165. (With review.) 

OBSERVATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS: 

1. Spelling is arranged in accordance with certain 
principles involved. 

2. The words are grouped under general rules and 
in general classes. 

3. The law of association is most helpful in spelling. 
The words are therefore grouped according to 
their similarity or dissimilarity, agreement or dis- 
agreement, association with thoughts they repre- 
sent, and the forms they have. 

4. The law of association requires that the meaning 
and application of words should be taught with 
their spelling. 



THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 17 

5. The grouping is around subjects, as Geography, 
Medicine. 

6. The words are arranged under rules. 

7. The necessity for correct use of words involves 
the necessity of correct spelling. 

8. The word-forms appeal to theieye; correct forms 
should be presented. 

g. Diacritical marks are valuable only when their 
use is known. They must be used with such fre- 
quency as to render familiarity certain. 

10. Word-building from root-words is freely intro- 
duced as a form of association. 

11. The teacher must have enthusiasm for the work. 

12. Work should not be all written nor all oral, but 
should be combined to suit surrounding conditions. 

13. The teacher should make word-lists of all incor- 
rectly spelled words in written spelling. These 
lists should be reviewed in special lessons. 



ARITHMETIC. 



FIRST YEAR. 
Numbers from one to ten. For detailed statement of 
the work, with suggestions concerning materials and meth- 
ods for this and following grades, see Methods of Arithme- 
tic in this book. 

SECOND YEAR. 
I. Study numbers from ten to twenty. 



x8 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

2. Writing of numbers to 999. 

3. Roman notation to one hundred. 

THIRD YEAR. 
FIUST HALF: 

1. Reading and writing numbers to 9,999. 

2. Multiplication and division to lo's. 

3. Study of individual numbers from 20 to 30, (further 
if time permits.) 

SECOND HALF: 

1. Milne's Elements to p. 118. 

2. Supplementary work as needed. 

3. White's Oral Arithmetic to p. 22. 

Note. White's book is recommended as one in every way 
worthy to accompany our adopted text in written Arith- 
metic. It is believed that no pupil should recite "arithme- 
tic" more than once a day. Nevertheless there should be 
a great deal of oral Arithmetic. White's book represents 
a minimum accompaniment for a course like Milne's. As 
to method, it is suggested that White's book be used co- 
ordinately with Milne's books as follows: 

1. As a preparatory review, before taking up a topic 
that is not entirely new — as addition (Milne's Ele- 
ments p. 89), for which some of the exercises in 
White (pp. 8-1 1) would be an excellent preparation. 

2. As a drill and review in connection with, or follow- 
ing the work in Milne. There may be an occasional 
"day off" from the written work for an oral drill. 

3. As a preparation for the written work, where the 
topic is a new one. Milne introduces each new topic 
with a series of inductive exercises. White's book 
will furnish valuable material supplementary to these. 
For example: pp. 55-62 (White) should be given in 
connection with pp. 138-140 (Milne's Elements), and 
then the pupil will be prepared for the written work 



THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 19 

on p.p. 141-144 of Milne. It is understood, therefore, 
that the various topics in the Oral Arithmetic are 
to be studied in connection with the same topics in 
Milne's books. 

FOURTH YEAR. 

1. Milne's Elements, pp. 1 18-188. 

2. White's Oral, pp. 23-27, 35-48, 55-68, 73-98 (omit- 
ting any parts or problems that are too difficult 
for the class) 

FIFTH YEAR. 
FIRST HALF: 

1. Milne's Elements, pp. 188-231. 

2. White's Oral, pp. 103-123. 
SECOND HALF: 

1. Milne's Standard, pp. i-go. 

2. White's Oral, pp. 28-34, 49"54» ^9> ^^^ ^^'^y other 
omitted parts up to this point. 

SIXTH YEAR. 

1. Standard Arithmetic, pp. go-231. 

2. White's Oral, omitted work between pp. 70 and 

123, with occasional re\-iews of other parts withi;* 
same limits. 

3. Supplementary oral work, if needed. 

SEVENTH YEAR. 

1. Standard Arithmetic, pp. ?oi-282. 

2. White's Oral, pp. 123-143. 

3. Other supplementary work, if needed. 

EIGHTH YEAR, 
r. Standard Arithmetic, pp. 282-438. 
2. White's Oral, pp. 143-176. 



20 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

LANGUAGE. 

FIRST YEAR. 

I. Nature of the JVork. The language work of this year 
must, of necessity, be largely oral and incidental, and 
may be taken up in connection with each of the other 
lines of primary work. The work should be in the 
form of conversation lessons upon appropriate topics. 
These exercises increase the child's power of expres- 
sion, stimulate mental growth, and establish good 
habits of speech. Using the good with sympathetic 
help leads to the omission of the bad. Naturalness 
of expression should be the aim. To secure this 
requires an interesting topic, a sympathetic interest on 
the part of the teacher and guide, and sympathetic 
criticism when criticism is necessary. 

II. Materials, drawn from the parallel lines of work, thus 
securing that natural correlation which should perme- 
ate all instruction. The materials come from: 

1. The reading lessons, which the child reproduces, 
or about which he talks, and which he copies as 
soon as he learns to write. 

2. Nature lessons, on trees, plants, flowers, fruits, 
leaves, insects, domestic animals, rain, snow, ice, 
etc., in which both observation and expression 
are encouraged. 

3. "Geography" lessons in which he acquires and 
uses terms relating to place, direction, color and 
form. 

4. Child literature, appropriate stories read or told 



THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 21 

by the teacher and re-told by the pupil. 
5. Memory gems, suitable in sentiment and difficulty 
to this stage of development. 
III. AiT>i, This year's work is intended to secure to the 
child the following: 

1. Meaning and use of many new words. 

2. More fluent and accurate use of his present vocab- 
ulary. 

3. Discriminative use of simple terms likely to be 
misused; such as I, me, he, him, her, she, we, us, 
a, an, this, that, these, those, is, are, was, were, 
see, saw. 

4. Connected thought and connected expression of 
thought in good form — descriptive and narrative. 

5. A growing familiarity with the mechanical ele- 
ments — capitals and marks of punctuation — when 
copying is begun. 

6. Correction of some inaccuracies in pronunciation 
and use of words. 

SECOND YEAR. 
This year should include the following lines of work: 

1. Description, oral and written, of plants, animals, 
and manufactured objects present, and from mem- 
ory, using connected discourse. 

2. Correct use of common words likely to be misused 
impressed by repeated use — governed by needs of 
pupils. 

3. Some attention to the construction, not dissection, 
of simple sentences. 

4. Oral and written reproduction of reading lessons. 



S3 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

Stories, etc., especial attention given to narration. 

5. Dictation exercises of suitable character. 

6. Simple descriptive and narrative compositions. 

7. Close attention to the mechanics of composition. 

8. Memory gems. 

9. Simple letter-writing. 

THIRD YEAR. 

I. Text-Book Work — DeGarmo's Combined Book, Part I. 

II. Supplementary Work: 

1. All the lines of work pursued in second year^ 
each adapted to the increasing intelligence and 
expanding powers of the pupil. 

2. Elaboration of the sentence — using more involved 
forms. 

3. Supplying ellipses. 

4. Completing paragraphs and weaving contexts 
about selected sentences. 

FOURTH YEAR. 

I. Text Book—De Garmo's, Part II. 

II. Supplementary: 

1. Continue the work of the previous year. 

2. See Methods in Language lor fourth year, in this 
book. 

FIFTH YEAR. 

I. Text ^(^r'Z-— DeGarmo's Part III., or Parts III. and iV. 
(In a graded school with a high school department 
in which it is possible to use Patrick's second book, it 
may be desirable to spend but one year on Parts III. 



THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 23 

and IV. The rural schools are denied these high 
school texts and may with profit spend a full year 
upon Part III.) 
II. Supplementary Work: 

1. Continuation of such forms from preceding years 
as are suited to the pupils, and each teacher must 
determine this matter for his own school. 

2. Composition work, completing stories, making up 
stories, as suggested in Methods for fifth grade — 
elsewhere in this book — are appropriate here. 

SIXTH YEAR. 

I. Text ^^^/^— DeGarmo's, Part IV. and review, or Pat- 
rick's Lessons, to page 92. (See fifth year.) 

II. Supplementary work in composition writing, making 

abstracts and paraphrases,and such lines of previously 
suggested work as need further consideration. 

SEVENTH YEAR. 

I. Text Book — Patrick's Lessons to page 92, or (if already 
studied to this point) complete the book, (reviewing 
from page 80 at beginning of the year. 

II. Supple7nentary work in composition and in grammar. 

EIGHTH YEAR. 
I. Text Book — Patrick's Lessons completed from page 80, 
(or Patrick's Higher English), with suitable supple- 
mentary work in composition and grammar. 



24 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOH. 

GEOGRAPHY. 



FIRST YEAR. 
Observations of land, water, temperature, soil, 
plants, animals, men, occupations, sun, clouds, 
winds, etc. 

Learning of a few of the terms applicable to posi- 
tion, distance, direction, size, form and color. 
Reading of geographical stories, by teacher. 



2. 



I. 



SECOND YEAR. 
Continuation of observation lessons of preceding 
year. 
2. Suitable readings, making con^parisons with home 
regions. 

THIRD YEAR. 

1. Further observations, leading to a clear concep' 
tion of fundamental geographic ideas, such as 
hill, stream, etc. 

2. Idea of mapping according to scale, together with 
simple mapping of school-room, school-yard, town 
or district, county, and state. 

3. Supplementary reading, with application to geo- 
graphic ideas. 

FOURTH YEAR. 
FIRST HALF: 

Rand-McNally's Elementary, text to p. 50. 
SECOND HALF: 

Same text, pp. 40-7S. 



THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 35 

Supplementary work for both halves: 

1. Weather observations. 

2. Study of industries. 

3. Modes of transportation. 

4. Products of field, garden, mine, forest, factory. 

5. Imaginary journeys. 

6. Reading. 

FIFTH YEAR. 
FIRST HALF: 

Elementary book, pp. 78-113. 
SECOND HALF: 

Same book to p. 152. 

Supplementary reading throughout. 

SIXTH YEAR. 
Rand-McNally's Complete Geography to p, 86. 
Supplementary reading. 

SEVENTH YEAR. 
Rand-McNally's Complete Geography, pp. 86-168. 
Supplementary reading. 



U. S. HISTORY. 



SIXTH YEAR, 
FIRST HALF: 

Morris's Elementary History, parts I., II., and III. 
SECOND HALF: 

Complete the book. 



26 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

SEVENTH YEAR. 
FIRST HALF: 

Shinn's History of the American People, to Part IV., 

p. 121. 

SECOND HALF: 

To Part VI., p. 233. 

EIGHTH YEAR. 
FIRST HALF: 

Shinn's History of the American People, Part VI., to 
P- 317- 
SECOND HALF: 

Parts VII., and VIII. 



CIVIL GOVERNMENT AND HISTORY OF 
MISSOURI. 



Text Book: — Rader and Thummel's Civil Government and 
History of Missouri. 

FIRST PLAN:— 

SEVENTH YEAR. 
History of Missouri, pp. 147-40S. 
EIGHTH YEAR. 
Civil Government of U. S., and of Missouri, pp. 1-147. 

SECOND PLAN:— 

SEVENTH YEAR. 
Civil Government of U. S., and of -Missouri. 



THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR, a? 

. EIGHTH YEAR. 
History of Missouri. 

THIRD PLAN:— 

SIXTH YEAR. 
History of Missouri. 

SEVENTH YEAR. 
Civil Government of Missouri. 

EIGHTH YEAR. 
Civil Government of the United States. 



PHYSIOLOGY. 

I. Oral lessons, occasionally, throughout the course, begin- 
ning in first grade with naming, some of the obvious 
parts of the body, head, hand, foot, eye, ear, etc., and 
gradually extending to parts less obvious, as heart, 
lungs, brain, stomach, etc. There should be lessons 
on food, its use, and how to eat it. Also on the 
hygiene of teeth, skin, eating, drinking, breathing, 
circulation, rest, exercise, and sleep. Some of the 
effects of stimulants and narcotics may be noticed. 

II. Baldwin's Essentials, eighth grade, one year's work. 



VERTICAL WRITING. 

Adopted Books: — Natural System of Vertical Writing 
First Year, Book I. 



28 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

Second Year, Book II. 

Third Year, Book III. 

Fourth Year, Book IV. 

Fifth Year, Book, V. 

Sixth Year, Book VI. 

Seventh Year, Book VI., and Business Forms. 



DAILY PROGRAM FOR DISTRICT SCHOOLS. 29 



CHAPTER II. 



DAILY PROGRAM FOR DISTRICT SCHOOLS. 



ADVANTAGES OF SYSTEM. 

Life without a program is aimless. Great enterprises 
cannot be successfully conducted without a fixed program. 
The time-table of a railroad is its program. All trains 
arrive and depart on time, and every passenger 

/-111 1 • • r 1 •*- Pi'ogram 

soon finds that he, too, must be on time, if he Brings 

Success. 

wishes to catch the train. A certain distance 
must be covered within a definite period, and if a 
train gets behind time, it must so remain, or endanger 
the lives of its passengers by running at a speed that 
is considered unsafe, — for it is manifest that the com- 
pany, in arranging its schedule, adopted the fastest 
time consistent with safety. This unvarying program pro- 
motes promptness. The employes arrive upon time to 
take charge of their various duties. The section men 
know when the train will arrive, and loosen no spikes, and 
remove no rails till it has passed; then in safety they time 
their labor to the on-coming of the next train. 

The traveling public examine the program and 
promptly present themselves at the station in ample time, 



30 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

for they have found by past experience that it will be 
carried out to the minute, whether they are ready or not. 
The thousands of employes time their actions to the pro- 
gram, and the hundreds of thousands of patrons accept its 
decree as final, and never call in question its fulfillment. 
One moment's reflection will show the far-reaching effects 
of its abandonment. Think of waiting for a train, some- 
where up the track, the arrival of which is only conjectural. 
It sometimes gets in on time; sometimes, behind time; 
sometimes, ahead of time. It sometimes runs slow; some- 
times, fast, — sometimes at a dangerous speed. The many 
are inconvenienced, tortured and damaged, simply because 
there is no fixed program. A great railway system has 
much to do in a limited time. Each employe must do his 
part within the prescribed limit. In no other way could it 
be called a "system." Without this uniformit}', it would 
be declared inadequate, and wholly unsuited to the pur- 
poses of its existence. 

The business man who has system in the management 
of his affairs is almost always successful. He is prompt in 
opening his office, or building, in waiting upon his cus- 
tomers, in his collections, and in meeting his obligations. 
His promptness begets promptness in all who have 
dealings with him. 

The farmer who has a time for everything will soon 
have all persons who are in any way connected with his 
business adjusting their actions to his program. System, 
increased work, and larger profits, are the necessary results 
of his program. 

The laws of health, from a physiological standpoint, 



DAILY PROGRAM FOR DISTRICT SCHOOLS. 31 

require that a daily program should be kept, and strictly 
followed. Rising at a regular time, eating systematically, 
exercising regularly, bathing regularly, sleeping regularly 
give health, strength and buoyancy of spirit and mind. 

Timing one's action to the work in hand is following 
a program, no matter in what avenue of life. Persons who 
do this are systematic, and no one is systematic who does 
not do so. Why in all successful enterprises, is a program 
adopted by persons having charge of them? The answer 
comes, "It pays." If this is the correct answer, then there 
is no place where it will pay so well as in a school. 

In any school the true teacher never does all he sees 
that needs to be done. His field of activity is limitless. 
He has six short hours each day in which to supervise, per- 
sonally, his school. He is to promote the 

. , .... , -, A. Program 

greatest development possible m each pupil. Aids Teacher 

and Pupil. 

His success is not measured by the soul-ex- 
pansion of one, of five, but of all. The close of the day 
must witness a mental development of all. His success 
is measured by the difference of intellectual and moral 
power of his pupils at 9 a. m. and 4 p. m. He 
sees so much to be done that he would become 
discouraged, were he not a hero for humanity. He sees 
the situation, and heroically does all he can, in the most 
effective way at his command. He realizes that he cannot 
do so much alone as when assisted by his pupils. Accord- 
ingly, he assigns work for the students to do in a given 
time, the amount being what they can be reasonably 
expected to do in the time. Pupils of similar attainments 
and similar capabilities are put to work upon labor of like 



32 THE xMISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

kind and amount. The teacher is the sympathetic fore 
man, who lays o1it the work, and sees that all hands are 
busy. He sees that he can accomplish more work by 
planning, laying out work, and seeing that every one 
under his direction does his duty, than to try to do the 
work and let his assistants sit idly by. At stated intervals, 
the time when a given piece of work is supposed to have 
been accomplished, the foreman examines to see if it has 
been fully done by each in a workmanlike manner. If he 
finds that some can not do their work, he shows them how, 
and makes their failure the ground of their future success 
in similar cases. When the pupil has completed the work 
assigned, he has a right to have his next work assigned, 
and to begin upon it. A program would of necessity be a 
good one, which would give just enough time between the 
recitation periods to prepare the lessons. The recitation 
period should be just long enough to allow the teacher to 
test the pupil's knowledge of the subject, to explain any 
work that can not be done by the class, or can not be done 
without a waste of time; to give such outside information 
as bears directly upon the lesson; to enrich, to expand, or 
to intensify it, and to point the way in the following lesson, 
when the papils need direction. Such a program presup- 
poses that the teacher has enough judgment to know 
what a certain class can do in a given time, in a given 
subject. 

If classes are overburdened, they cannot be prepared, 
when their time to recite arrives. Their knowledge of the 
lesson will be meager, and their recitation slow and spirit- 
less upon the part they happen to know, and a much 



DAILY PROGRAM FOR DISTRICT SCHOOLS. 33 

longer time will be required for the imperfect recitation, 
thus encroaching upon the recitation period of the next 
class, with a corresponding shortening of the 

, . , r 1 1 11, .A Program 

Study period for the class that has' just Leads to 

System. 

recited. Getting behind time causes rushes, 
hurry, confusion, and a dangerous recklessness as 
in the case of the belated train. The program for 
the whole day is behind time, the equilibrium of the school 
is destroyed; system, so far as that day is concerned, is 
absent. On the other hand, just enough time is used for 
the study period, and everything moves systematically 
according to the time-table. Industry and great work 
mark the session. The term is made up of days; 
successful days continued make successful schools. 

Enthusiastic teachers frequently consume too much 
time in the recitation. In their enthusiasm, they forget 
the work that is before them, and, to that extent, fall short 
of being good teachers. No teacher ever 

. . A Program 

heard a slow recitation when the lessons were Leads to 

Thorough!] ess. 

thoroughly prepared; no teacher ever heard a 
quick recitation where lessons were poorly prepared. 
Being on time acts upon students as the railway time- 
table does upon the emploj'es, causing them to be ready 
and to do the work prescribed in the alloted time. The 
knowledge that the teacher will not "run over-time" pro- 
motes regularity, industry, and desirable habits of study 
and action in the pupil. A program also presupposes that 
a teacher knows the object of the recitation. . „ 

■' A Program 

Such a teacher will at once, when the class correct °Habits 

11 11 r 1 1 °f Study. 

IS in position, test the knowledge of the class — 



34 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

not deliver a lecture to show how much he knows about the 
lesson. The recitation is for the pupil', not for the teacher. 
The teacher should not lead the pupil to his answer. 
The pupil, in the best way under the circumstances, should 
be permitted to recite freely and fully, or represent to the 
teacher what he has assimilated and made a part of him- 
self. When the various members have given sufficient evi- 
dence that they have mastered the lesson and have assimi- 
lated it, the teacher should then correct any erroneous ideas 
the class may have, and make clear any facts that are left 
obscure, and give any suitable relative matter to emphasize 
the points brought out, or to supplement, or to enrich the 
contents. When this is done, the next work should be as- 
signed with any necessary suggestions in regard to its prep- 
aration, or special work to be done in connection with it. 
Incidents remotely connected with the lesson are out of 
order, as a rule, and indicate a lack of preparation of the 
lessons upon the part of the teacher. When these details 
have been completed, the recitation is finished, and should 
cease. 

As suggested in another chapter, it is, occasionally, 
necessary to vary the program for a single day. There 
may be some subject requiring additional time for explana- 
tion, or elaboration. Upon such occasions the 
Rarely \^ried. extra time should be taken, but the rule should 
be, "Follow your program," breaking it should 
be very rare. Subjects like the Greatest Common Divisor, 
Longitude and Time, etc., cannot be explained in the 
time ordinarily given to the recitation. In such cases 
we would have to run over time. These cases should 



DAILY PROGRAM FOR DISTRICT SCHOOLS. 35 

be the exceptions, just as a train is compelled, occa- 
sionally, to be behind time. Even in the cases cited 
above, it is better, when it can be divided, to give 
only so much of the subject as can be completed in 
one recitation. The one thing to bfe borne constantly in 
mind by the teacher is the day's work as a whole, and 
work in such a way as to make the success of the day most- 
complete, rather than the single recitation. As before 
mentioned, successful davs are the units by which success- 
ful terms or years are measured. \ 

It should be kept in mind that a program suitable tO 
all the peculiar conditions of the school is necessary. The 
teacher in charge is the person to decide this point. Al- 
most every district would require a program slightly differ- 
ent from the one adjoining. 

Even in the same school, the program would vary 
slightly from year to year. The teacher, the first few days 
of school, should adjust his program to the school, not his 
school to his program. When this program is 

The Program 

adjusted to the peculiar needs of the district, should be 

•' ^ Adjusted to 

there is no reason why it should not, but every *^^ school, 
pedagogical reason why it should be followed. Some of 
the benefits to a teacher personally are: 

1. System in his school work, in his professional 
studies, and in his other activities tor personal and profes- 
sional advancement. ^ 

2. Increase of power as a teacher, arising from 
necessary preparation for each recitation. The familiarity 
with the contents of the texts, and with suitable supple- 
mentary matter, gives power that can not be supplied 



36 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

by an acquaintance with other texts. The true teacher, 

by skillfully directing the pupils, enables them to take 

from the lessons their meaning, and creates in them the 

consciousness of power. Text books are their 

What a . , . f . , , 

Program does guidcs, and contam the mtormation to be glean- 

for a Teacher. 

ed by them. Supplementary work is necessary, 
but it should not take the place of the text. Limited time 
for recitation demands extended preparation. Extended 
preparation brings professional power. 

From the student's standpoint, some of the benefits to 
be derived are: 

1. He receives justice. There is no justice in giving 
to one class time that rightly belongs to another. Usually, 
in such cases, the time is taken from the many for the 

few who are in the upper grades. "The great- 

What a , 1 ,1 1 1 1 1 1 

Program does est good to the greatest number, should be the 

for the Pupils. 

watchword Oi every earnest teacher. With 
eighty-two per cent of pupils in the first four grades, 
justice requires that those above this point should not be 
permitted to have time that belongs to those below it, 
simply because the teacher does not happen to like the 
lower grade work, and wants to take a review in higher 
subjects. The best teachers are those who are successful 
in the lower, as well as, in the upper grades. 

2. The students become accustomed to system, and 
use it in whatever they do. ,, The habit of doing all things 
with system is soon formed, and is, in itself, invaluable. 

3. Sell-control is strengthened. Students learn to 
give up individual preferences for the opinions of others. 

4. Ihey receive a greater return from the schools. 



DAILY PROGRAM FOR DISTRICT SCHOOLS. 



37 



They study- more, assimilate more, learn self-reliance and 
to do a definite work in a given time. In many ways they 
are made stronger by adjusting their actions to the 
program. 

PROGRAM FOR DISTRICT SCHOOL. 



s 


a v 
3 -a 
d 

C 

1 f 


3 "O 

2 2 


c c 


u u 


a 4; 

° 2 


■a 13 


Fourth Group, 
Fourth and Fifth 
Grades or both 
Combined. 


Fifth Group, 
Sixth & Seventh 
Grades or both 
Combined. 


ft 

2 

6 S 
o5 w 


9:00- 9:10 


10 


OPENING EXERCISES. 


9:10- 9:20 

9 -20- 9:30 
9:30- 9:45 
9:45 10:05 
10:05-10:30 


10 

10 

15 

20 
25 


Num 














Arithmetic 












Arithmetic 












Arithmetic 














Arithmetic 


10:30-10:40 


10 


RECESS. 


10:40-10:50 

10 150- 11:00 


10 

10 

10 
10 
10 

15 
15 










His. or Civ. 
Gov. of Mo. 




Reading.. 


Reading.. 


Geograpiiy 




















11:20-11:30 
11:30 11:45 
11:45-12:00 


Elm. Geog. 




(Civ. Gov. 










< or Shi'n's 










Com. Geog. 


(U. S. His. 



1:00- 1:05 


05 

10 
10 
10 
10 
10 

'5 
20 


OPENING EXERCISES. 


1:05- 1:15 
1:15- 1:25 
1:25- 1:35 
1:35- 1:45 
1:45- 1:55 
1:55- 2:10 
2:10- 2:30 
















Reading.. 


Reading .... 










Reading .... 








Reading .... 




...... •-— ^ 


mg 






Physiology 


Writ 


iug 


Writ 


mg 


2:30- 2:40 


10 


RECESS. 


2:40- 2:45 
2:45- 2:50 
2:50- 3:00 
3:00- 3:15 
^•.i5- 3:30 
3:30- 3:45 
3:45- 4:00 


05 
05 
10 

15 
15 
15 


Lang-age 












Lang'age 












Lang'age .. 














Lang'age.... 


( Patrick's 
(Gramm'r 
Spell 














.;!;".l'.'..Spell 




Pat.Gr'm'r 


Speil 


'"g 


ing 


iiig 



38 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

COMMENTS UPON THE DISTRICT PROGRAM. 

The program above provides for the teaching of all 

common school books adopted by the Missouri Text. Book 

Commission. Should a school not use all the books, it will 

be an easy matter to divide the time among 

The Program i • i • ,i 

for Adopted Other subjects, leavmg the program practically 

Books. 

as suggested. All schools should be worked 
up till they can give this common school course provided 
by our laws. No teacher, however, should attempt to 
adjust the entire program to his school unless the con- 
ditions will warrant the adjustment. His judgment must 
be his guide in deciding what are these conditions. The 
Commission thought the adopted books were suitable for the 
pupils of the grades mentioned. A full examination, and 
one year's use has verified this conclusion. An inspection 
of this program shows that it will bring system and save 
time, and grade the school sufficiently close; yet, not so 

rigidly as to put children into an educational 

This Program . , . , , , . . , 

Grades a straight-jacket, by crowding into the same 

School. 

classes children of widely different powers and 
advancement. The object of classification is to facilitate 
work by grouping together pupils of similar attainments 
and advancement, thus, making one recitation serve all 
equally. 

The program provides for eight years of school, divided 
into six groups. It is seen that the students in the first 
three readers form distinct grades, while the pupils of the 
fourth and fifth grades are united in the Fourth Reader 
and accompanying subjects; the sixth and seventh grades 
are also united in the Fifth Reader and other corresponding 



DAILY PROGRAM FOR DISTRICT SCHOOLS. 39 

work. The eighth has advanced to such an extent that 
separate classes are required. This seems a proper 
amount, and a rational division of labor, for pupils at their 
various stages of development. The consensus of the best 
educational thought confirms this opinion. To grade a 
school successfully, the teacher in charge 7nust know what 
is the work embraced in each grade, and the pupils, also, 
should know it. 

The program should be placed artistically upon the 
board, or printed upon manilla card-board, and placed 
upon the wall where it can be seen. A clock should be 
provided. Then the student soon adjusts his study to the 
time allowed. He also sees in what year of his school 
course he is, and in what branches, if any, he is behind. 
He is encouraged to strive to "even up" his work, and 
also to endeavor to complete his grade during the term. 
It is not recommended that a student be held in a grade, 
simply because he is behind in one or two branches. He 
should be encouraged to keep his work symmetric, and 
should learn to know when his advancement is har- 
monious. The student at one glance sees what is the 
work of the hour, of the day, of the term, of his school 
life, in the common school. 

It will be observed that twenty-six recitations have 

been provided for. The number has been made large in 

order to meet the necessities of any school. Should there 

not be so many required it is easier to form 

Meets the 

Requirements fewer classcs than to find time for more. The 

of any School. 

authors are aware that programs suggested by 
institute instructors, courses of study, and works upon 



40 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

school management rarely ever contain more than twenty- 
two recitations. After consulting a large number of strong 
district teachers in various parts of the state, they are 
forced to say that the great majority contain more than 
this number. Whenever classes can be united to good 
advantage it should be done. The teacher is the only 
person competent to decide what ones should be combined. 
When this is done, the time gained can easily be given 
to other classes most advantageously. 

The day's work may be said to be divided into four 
important groups: i. Arithmetic before recess. 2. His- 
tory and Geography from recess till noon. 3. Reading 
from noon till recess in the afternoon. 4. Lan- 

The Day's 

Work guage and Grammar from afternoon recess till 

Grouped. 

the closing of the day's session. The excep- 
tions to this classification are Writing, Spelling, and 
Primary Reading. By grouping together the various 
classes in the same subject, a longer time is given to the 
concentration of the minds of the whole school upon that 
particular subject. The time element can no more be 
eliminated from mental than from mater*ial growth. 
During these periods, if a student is not studying his own 
lesson, he hears another recite on the same subject. This 
continued concentration produces healthy growth. If 
classes on other subjects were introduced, this continuity 
would be destroyed, and the attention diverted. 

It will be observed that at least an hour is given to 
the preparation of almost every lesson before recitation. 
There can be no reasonable excuse for a pupil's not having 
his lesson ready. In addition to the time given by the 



DAILY PROGRAM FOR DISTi^rCT SCHOOLS. 41 

program, the first and second grade pupils should study 
at least thirty minutes, and all others, not less than one 

hour at home. As an evidence that this has 

1 J L "^^^ '^*™^ 
been done, a certam amount otwork should be Giveu to 

Preparation. 

required to be handed in. Home study is 
•worth one-third of the whole day at school. The 
teacher who does not have it done is losing, to a large ex- 
tent, the support of the parents. When they work at 
home the parents almost of necessity know of the charac- 
ter of the work being done at school, and feel an interest 
in all the work the child does. They render material aid 
to the pupil on the individual plan. The dull pupil has 
good lessons, and the bright one has time for investiga- 
tion and research. The whole community come to the 
conclusion that "That teacher knows his business. The 
children bring their books home and study every night." 

The foregoing program can with slight modifications, 
be adjusted to any Missouri school. It may not possess 
all the merits, but is believed to be worthy of the consid- 
eration of experienced teachers, and to serve as a tempo- 
rary guide to the inexperienced. It embodies the 
recommendations of the Committee on Course of Study 
for Missouri Schools for i8g6, the suggestions of a large 
number of district teachers, and the experience of the 
authors, modified to meet the requirements of the adopted 
text books. 



ii THE MISSOURI oujTctvviovjK.. 



CHAPTER III. 



SOME POINTS ON SCHOOL MANAGEMENT, 



EDUCATION AND EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES. 

The people of the United States expend annually in 

support of their schools something like a hundred million 

dollars. The sum permanently invested in buildings, 

grounds, and equipments, is several times as 

Cost of large. All of this money, together with the 

Education. 

vast sum given incidentally to our schools, is 
expended for what? A single word answers, Education. 
And regarded as an investment merely — forgetting the 
humanitarian significance of the movement — \\.pays. For, 
whatever the shortcomings of educators and the deficiencies 
of our educational system, the millions invested in educa- 
tion are more productive of good than those other millions 
expended for coast defense or armed cruisers, and much 
more so than the billion and a half dollars wasted annually 
in tobacco and liquor. Our own state sets apart nearly 
seven millions from her yearly income for the education of 
her children, and whether the burdens of taxation rest 
lightly or heavily upon our citizens, the moneys paid for 
school purposes rarely provoke complaint. 



SOME POINTS ON SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 43 

These facts are construed as an indication that educa- 
tion is in some measure, at least, accomplishing an 
acceptable purpose. But what is that purpose? Is it 
to fit the coming man or woman to "fight 

The 

the battle of life"? If this means fitting Purpose of 

Education. 

him to enter the race for "the almighty 
dollar," by concentrating all his purposes and all his 
strength upon this one end, narrowing his mental 
and spiritual horizon within the circumference of a silver 
circle, one and one half inches in diameter, the answer is a 
decided negative. But if the question means the getting 
of a living by productive labor, the answer is "Yes and 
much more." Education ought not to unfit one for earn- 
ing an honest living, either by making him impractical and 
unable to deal intelligently with the problems of life or by 
giving him distorted conceptions of his own dignity or 
that of profitable labor. It is a low conception of educa- 
tion, however, that looks only to the material side. Every 
normally constituted human being ought to be capable of 
earning an honest living, but he should be able to do more. 
He should be able to live rightly — to live as becomes a 
being endowed with the possibilities of good and evil, a 
being who stands at the apex of creation with the whole 
universe at his feet. "Not for livelihood but for life" is 
the expressive formula of education as enunciated by one 
of her ablest exponents. "Complete living," says Spencer, 
"is the purpose of education." Such ideals as these are 
worthy of, and demand the consideration of every true 
teacher. 

No sciieme of education can ignore the individuality 



44 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

of the pupil himself, an ever-present factor which may 
facilitate or neutralize the normal efficiency of the great 

educational forces, Home, School, Church, 
Agencies"''' Society, and the Press. The influence that 

these agencies wield varies as the individuals 
vary. It cannot be foretold with certainty. In the main, 
we have reason to expect certain results, but frequently 
our expectations are upset by genuine suprises. The indi- 
viduality of the learner sometimes asserts itself in peculiar, 
yet emphatic ways. The same sun melts wax and hardens 
clay. 

It is not within our province to attempt a statement of 
the relative importance of the various agencies named 
above. We are directly and immediately concerned with 

the work of the School. Its educational influ- 

The School . . 

as an ence operates in a variety of ways, some direct. 

Agency. 

Others indirect. Indirectly a school can edu- 
cate by its very presence in a community. . A university on 
a Stanford estate, a modern ward school in a crowded city, 
or an "up-to-date" school in a rural community can edu- 
cate their respective neighborhoods. There may be 
"ignorance in the shadow of Harvard," but there would 
be more ignorance were there no Harvard. A school 
educates many whose names are not on its rolls. It may 
be able to imbue not only its pupils but an entire commu- 
nity with a healthy educational spirit. It is positively 
invigorating to inhale the educational atmosphere of some 
schools and some communities, and as killing to breathe 
that of others. Pupils, teachers, patrons, visitors are 
alike stimulated. Sometimes this influence, whether good 



SOME POINTS ON SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 45 

or evil, emanates primarily from some citizen, who may or 
may not be a member of the board, but generally it de- 
pends, if it be a good influence, for its inception, at least, 
upon the teacher. And this brings us to the consideration 
of the principal factor in the success of ever}' school. 

This influence of the teacher in moulding educational 
sentiment in the school and for the school is of the first 
importance and should be regarded by the teacher as a 
legitimate responsibility. The needs and con- 
ditions of the community and the capabilities Educ-itionai 

.' ^ Sentiment. 

of the teacher must determine what shall be 
done, but the resourceful teacher will do something to 
arouse such a sentiment. It may be the organization 
of a rending circle among the young people of the 
community, or among the older pupils, or of a liter- 
ary or dramatic club under proper restrictions. It 
may be through the school library, through interesting 
general exercises in the school, or through other ways 
that the tactful teacher will devise. The fact remains that 
in many, very man}' communities, both rural and urban, 
this sentiment is almost entirely lacking. It is to be 
hoped that every such community will soon produce or im- 
port a leader with the grace and grit to save it from itself. 
The teacher ought to be the educational leader of the 
community, whether that community be as populous 
as a Greater New York or no more so than the most 
sparsely settled rural district. He should rank in educa- 
tional matters as high as the physician, lawyer, and 
minister do in their spheres. In minor cases we may see 
fit to dispense with the services of all, but in the serious 



46 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

ones we go to those who profess to know. We seek out 
the specialist. The teacher should be a 

The Teacher 

^^/" ,. , specialist in his sphere. He should be oen 

ilducational ^ ^ 

^^^ ^''- whose advice upon the difficulty of locating a 

school site, the construction of a school building, the pur- 
chase of school supplies, the ventilation of a room, the 
selection of a good book, the care of an injured child, the 
avenue to a boy's affections, the choice of an occupation, 
or any one of a score of similar matters, would be safe and 
valuable. When a community finds such a leader, it will 
be loth to let him go. Sometimes ignorance or prejudice 
m?y try to drive him out, but rarely will it succeed. Such 
qualities as those enumerated above, together with those 
directly related to the work of instruction, will call for a 
remuneration of more than twenty-five dollars a month, 
for six or seven months of the year. But is it a manifes- 
tation of over-confidence to say that such teachers will not 
long be kept at such wages? Is there not sufficient 
liberality, aye, is there not sufficient business-sense, 
among Missouri's tax-payers to lead to a fair reward for 
such services? It is pleasant to dream of a time when in 
many a Missouri community there may be found a man or 
woman who will long have been recognized as the educa- 
tional leader and guide — loved and respected by all, amply 
qualified in all that pertains to the work of education and 
amply remunerated to banish all fears of want immediate 
or remote. And must it be forever only a dream? 

Much has been written upon the qualifications of the 
teacher, and legislators, actuated by a desire to protect 
helpless childhood, have legalized attempts to ascertain 



SOME POINTS ON SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 47 

whether would-be teachers possess a certain standard 
of qualifications. The perennial discussions of 

"the certification of teachers" at educational meetings, 
state and national, and the biennial efforts of our 
own General Assembly to amend existing laws, 
show that the law makers have not arrived at an 
entirely satisfactory method of determining even a 
minimum of qualifications. Furthermore it is everywhere 
conceded that no test save that of actual ex- 
perience is altogether satisfactory. There are 

Qualifications. 

some very desirable qualities which no exami- 
nation can reveal, some elements of a teacher's equipment 
that must be sought through other means. Here lies one 
of the strong arguments for the supervision of schools. 

With much ingenuity and nicety of detail the "Qual- 
ifications of the Teacher" have been outlined by a number 
of writers. We purpose neither rivalry nor plagiarism. 
Yet we do desire to set forth a few of the teacher's qualifi- 
cations- — partly to emphasize, partly to supplement. 

The first qualification that is usually demanded by 
examiners, patrons, and school officials is scholarship. 
It is extremely doubtful whether the prevalent notions 
corresponding to this term are at all times clearl}' defined 
and at all times correct. But suffice it to say that the term 
ought to stand for much more than it now does — far umore 
than our current system of examinations can possibly 
reveal. It is unquestionably true that the 
standard ought to be much higher than it now scholarship, 
is. Less than a year ago two would-be 
"first-grade" teachers were unable to state in an institute 



48 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

the name of the ruling sovereign of Great Britain, a dozen 
n ore could not tell the temperature at which water freezes, 
and thirty-three out of a total of eighty-two failed to name 
three American poets and three poems of each. It is 
possible that a person may be an excellent teacher and 
lack a knowledge of these things, but the probability is 
that these deficiencies are matched by others equally 
glaring. It is not assumed that the teacher's knowledge 
should be encyclopedic, but to the question, are the per- 
sons just mentioned qualified to teach Missouri's boys and 
girls? There is but one answer — an emphatic. No. A 
radical and sudden change of standards is, of course, 
inadvisable, but one sufficiently marked to he noticeable is 
necessary. The interests of our schools demand it, ard 
surely the time is not far removed when public sentiment 
will join in the demand. "A four years' high school 
course for all grade teachers" may startle us now, but the 
time is com'ng v\hen this will be demanded, and those 
who are progressive will begin to prepare for it now. 
With so many good higfi schools, academies, colleges, 
state normals, and universities ' accessible, there are but 
few who will to do so who can not equip themselves with 
a broad general culture. Reform ought to come in three 
places — among teachers themselves in a professional 
spirit that will compel higher scholarship; among 
lu ensing officers in a determined effort to supply existing 
deficiencies; among patrons and the general public in a 
demand that their school rooms be barred against 
incompetency. 

A second qualification is a clear conception of the 



SOME POINTS ON SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 49 

objects and nature of education. It is feared that 100 
m my teachers go about their work with very indefinite 
notions of what can and ought to be accom- 
plished in the school-room. Oh Education! conception 

ol Education. 

Education! How many crimes are committed 
in thy name! Sometimes, well-meaning and conscien- 
tious teachers lack this right conception of their work. 
Too frequently, however, the important work of teaching 
is carried on by those who are supremely indifferent to all 
the higher ideals of their trade and whose definition of 
education, if truthfully written, would be, "The popular 
institution which seems perfectly willing to employ me at 
a good salary with the privilege of doing just as little as 
possible in return." Is it not time that teachers were 
asking. What is Education? What is it for? How is it to 
be accomplished? Am I tit for the work? What is my 
duty to my pupils? 

Closely associated with the foregoing, is a third qual- 
ification, love for the work. Novice, if you do not love 
children and cannot interest yourself in them, keep out of 
the profession. Teacher, do you dislike your 
work, do you "hate the whole business," do ^ove for 

' -' the Work. 

you find the work a task, are you teaching "for 
revenue only"? If so, resign at once. Get out of the 
profession. "The place whereon thou standest is holy 
ground." The true teacher so loves his work that there 
is a constant temptation to overstep the limits of time, a 
constant desire to do more than has yet been done, a con- 
stant striving after better things in matter and method, 
a constant longing for the strength and wisdom necessary 



so THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

to faithful work. If these things be in him and abound 
he will be neither barren nor unfruitful. 

There should be not only a love for the work, but 
also a love for work. He who has an insuperable aversion 
to all kinds of hard labor will never satisfy us as a teacher. 
The laz}' teacher — God pity his pupils. Very few people — 
and children are not exceptions — have respect for a lazy 
person. On the other hand, we innately respect him who 
can work and is willing to work. The lazy teacher "is too 
lazy to do anything else;" he is too lazy to get to school 
ahead of time; too lazy to take an occasional romp with 
the children; too lazy to be on his feet frequently; too lazy 
to sacrifice his own personal ease to help a slow or unfor- 
tunate pupil; too lazy to plan and prepare his work; too 
lazy to teach except "by the book;" too lazy to draw his 
salary — never. 

The teacher should be pre-eminently a person of 

"good habits," including in that phrase much more than 

the popular interpretation demands. Our ideal of the 

teacher is a high one — but better to err with 

^°°'?, virtue than to shine with the lack of it. High 

Habits. o 

ideals rarely discourage; low ones frequently 
destroy. Therefore, beyond the commonplace virtues 
of truthfulness, honesty, temperance, and purity, we de- 
mand of our teacher such other habitual virtues as prompt- 
ness, perseverance, neatness, politeness, modesty, patience, 
order, and self-control. These habits should not be of the 
spasmodic type. They should constitute the warp and 
woof of his being. 

Other elements in the teacher's equipment might be 



SOME POINTS ON SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 51 

named, but their enumeration would be foreign to our pur- 
pose. We pass to the consideration of the teacher's work. 
The teacher's part in arousing and maintaining a 
liealthy educational sentiment in the community has been 
considered. The more commonly recognized lines of his 
activity are instruction and discipline. Both 
require a high order of ability and both are not Teacher's 

Work. 

necessarily within the power of every teacher. 
Of course, everybody can instruct — after a fashion, as he 
can govern — alter a fashion. But the ideal instructor and 
the ideal disciplinarian combined in one person live 
mostly in theory. The former is he who can guide success- 
fully to self-instruction; the latter, he who can guide suc- 
cessfully to self control. It is a faulty conception that 
regards instruction as a mere in-pouring of facts. It is 
rather, as its etymology suggests, an in-building; but it 
should be that sort of in-building that goes on within a 
tree, or an animal body, in which the crude material is 
built into living tissue and becomes a vital part of a living 
organism. The teacher should strive to make his instruc- 
tion equally vital. Facts, so far as their impartation is a 
factor in instruction, ought to be the crude food-elements 
which, by such mental processes as the teacher shall direct, 
are to be assimilated and incorporated into the mental 
organism. The result of such an acquisition will be a 
symmetrical development, a growth of all the powers of 
mind. 

Discipline ought to do for the emotional and volitional 
natures what instruction, as outlined above, does for the 
intellectual nature of the child. Precepts, rules, maxims, 



52 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

should be acted, lived, by the child, from motives of his 
own and from choices ol his own. Herbart is undoubtedly 
correct in assuming that, in education, the most important 
element — the whole of it, he would say — is morality. 
Judged from this standard what a woeful affair we make of 
education! How little we are doing, or, at least, how little 
we are doing well, toward the development of a self-direct- 
ing morality, which is the only true morality. Let us hear 
the conclusion of the whole matter. That teacher fails 
in his duty, who has not trained his pupil to self-instruc- 
tion and self-government. 

THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL. 

The novice in teaching, unless he be of those who rush 
in where "angels fear to tread," looks forward with trepi- 
dation of spirit to "the first day of school." And well he 
may, for in many respects it is the most important of the 
term. In the hope that something may be said to help 
the teacher over the difficulties of this, the hardest of all 
days, this section is written. Primarily it and the one fol- 
lowing are written with the rural teacher in mind, but it is 
hoped that these sections are worthy of the attention of all 
teachers. 

The first day's labors, like those of any other day, can 
be lightened by preliminary preparation and foresight. No 
day's labors, much less those of the first, should be begun 
without a plan. This should include a clear 

f , . 1 , , , • • Preparation 

conception of what is to be done and how it is for 

Battle. 

hoped to do it. Both of these points can be 
determined only after the teacher has studied the condi- 



SOME POINTS ON SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 53 

tions under which he will have to labor — size of school, 
previous classification, educational sentiment of commun- 
ity, educational needs of community, social and financial 
conditions of community, school equipment — building, 
grounds, apparatus, furniture —and, in the light of these 
conditions, has estimated the educational possibilities of 
the community. To determine these matters satisfactorily 
will require a study of the records left by the former 
teacher, and, if possible, a conference with him, a friendly 
talk with the board, and, if necessary, with some of the 
patrons and pupils, and a visit to the school building. A 
teacher well known to the writers went to her school-room 
on the morning of the first day, and found the seats loose 
from the floor and piled in one end of the room. Such a 
state of affairs will never lighten the first day's labors. 
The school-room should be clean, and the teacher may 
have to see to the cleaning. A school record, a bell^ 
crayon, and drinking vessels should be at hand. 

Before or during the first day, each teacher must 
solve the question of classification so far, at least, as it 
concerns his school. In this matter there is much room 
for diversity of judgment and for serious error. 
There are two extremes — the one, the individual, 5'^''?-- 

"go-as-you-piease" plan, once almost univers- 
ally prevalent in rural schools; thp other, the "iron-clad"' 
gradation of many city schools. Most rural and village 
schools have grown out of the former, and happily, they 
cannot attain the latter. How much classification is best 
has not been fully determined. On a few points, how- 
ever, there seems to be agreement. It is conceded, for 



54 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

example, that there is both economy of time and a posi- 
tive gain in recitation benefits in a certain degree of clas- 
sification. On the other hand, there is a harmful loss in 
throwing together in the recitation pupils of widely differ- 
ent powers. The ideal would be classes of moderate size 
with frequent promotions, the intervals not exceeding 
three months. This is fully possible only in large city 
schools, and but few of them have seen fit to try the plan 
in its fullness. In rural schools, there can be not even an 
approach to it until we abandon our present school unit — 
the district. When this extravagantly expensive and 
pedagogically unwise plan shall have been abolished, we 
can hope for that degree of classification that will be pro- 
ductive of great good. The Committee of Twelve pointed 
out that eighty-two per cent of all public school pupils are 
in the first four years' work, and the suggestion of this 
Committee is the consolidation of the pupils above this 
grade into Central Schools. If the six or seven schools 
found in many congressional townships in our State were 
controlled by a common board, four of them could easily 
care for all pupils in the first four years, a fifth centrally 
located could, with two teachers, provide better instruc- 
tion and at least one year more of it than our present sys- 
tem can possibly furnish. It is doubtful whether in many 
townships, there would be any increase of cost whatever. 
And if there were a slight increase of cost, the character of 
the instruction would be so much improved that the in- 
crease of taxation would be willingly borne. 

But many years may pass before we secure this re- 
adjustment of our school affairs. Until the change shall 



SOME POINTS ON SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 55 

come, teachers must labor as best they can under existing 
conditions. And what is the teacher to do? First, we 
reply, there must be a recognition — a fuller recognition 
than most teachers now seem to have — of the importance 
of educational symmetry. Under the mistaken idea that 
all of life is wrapped up within some one "practical" 
study, pupils are allowed, aye, even encouraged by both 
teachers and parents to "specialize" on that particular 
subject. Generally, though not always, that subject is 
Arithmetic. In any case, the teacher should realize and 
endeavor to get pupil and parent to realize that the student 
who has "ciphered through the Arithmetic" without any 
knowledge of Geography or the ability to write correctly 
an English sentence is educationally "unbalanced." This 
does not mean that on the very day on which the pupil is 
"ciphering" on page 147 of Blank's Arithmetic he must 
be parsing the sentences on page 351 of Dash's Grammar. 
But it does mean that there is a more or less clearly pre- 
scribed amount of work in the study of his mother-tongue 
that ought to accompany equally clearly prescribed 
amounts of work in otiier lines, and the pupil ought to 
advance along these several lines proportionatel}'. Harm 
will come, of course, if this system be made too rigid, but 
in nearly every rural school there are pupils whose work 
in Mathematics is from one to five years ahead of their 
work in Language, and the}'^ need "righting up." The 
aim of the course of study published elsewhere in this 
book is to set forth what is thought to be equivalent sec- 
tions of work. It should be used frequently as a sort of 
spirit-level to test the levelness of the pupil's educational 



THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

Structure. Recognizing that the school course extends over 
some eight years and includes five or more general types of 
work with some "extras;" then, a strict gradation would 
call for more than forty recitations each day, a number 
entirely too great for the length of the school day. This 
number must, therefore, be reduced. The reduction be- 
gins with such subjects as penmanship for which the 
skillful teacher needs but one time period, even though 
there are different grades represented. In no subject will 
it be necessary to maintain the theoretical eight classes. 
The exact number to be maintained in each subject must 
be determined by the condition of the school. In the 
.suggestive daily program which is given elsewhere, the 
aim is to show how the condensations may be effected. In 
the light of the best information at his disposal the teacher 
prepares a program for the first day. He may be able to 
approximate closely to what will be his permanent pro- 
gram; the nearer, the better. At the same time, unless 
there is good reason for it, he should introduce no startling 
innovations. At no time should he purposely cast reflec- 
tions upon the work or methods of his predecessor. Where 
innovations are introduced they should be explained, so 
that all can comprehend. 

The work of the first day should begin on time. 
Pupils will seat themselves, and, except for manifest reasons, 
this seating ought not to be changed for the present. If 
possible, and-it is nearly always so, a familiar song may 
be sung. Its influence will last through that day and 
many subsequent days. The teacher will show his skill 
by getting everybody to work at once. This can be ac- 



SOME POINTS ON SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 57 

complished by assigning preliminary lessons to all the 
reading classes. Chart pupils may be given a "picture 
book" for entertainment and possibly to cultivate friendly 
relations toward the teacher. Those beyond the fifth 
reader will probably study History and may have a lesson 
assigned them. The others, if there be others, may be 
assigned work in some other branches. Everybody is 
now employed. The teacher, as rapidly as possible, 
makes the rounds of the room, confers with each pupil,^ 
inquires kindly concerning his studies and gets his name 
on a previously prepared slip. The inquiries made will 
reveal much concerning the classes needed and the places 
of beginning work. The teacher can now write upon the 
board the assignments of lessons for classes in Arithmetic 
and Geography. (The most of this should be review 
work.) The reading classes may now be called in order, 
beginning with the primary. The recitations should be 
brief, but each pupil should participate. At the close, 
assign work for the next recitation and state when it will 
be expected. In this way go through the program of the 
day. "Push things." Keep everybody busy. Organize 
every needed class if possible. Have every exercise brief 
but significant. Watch the classification and the work to 
determine the needs of individuals and of classes. Intro- 
duce tactics as needed — as classes are called and dismissed 
and in dismissing and calling school. Let everything be 
done decently and in order. At the close of the day's 
work announcements should be made concerning the next 
day's work, time of beginning school and the like. A few 
simple rules may be announced, if the teacher thinks best.. 



S8 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

Some teachers, apparently, can dispense with all rules. 
Many others have failed in the attempt. If rules are 
adopted, they should be general, few, simple, and justifi- 
able even to a child. They should be presented as the 
needs of the school and not the arbitrary fiats of the 
teacher. School government, whether by rule or without 
rule, should instill self-respect and encourage self-control. 

It is not likely that there will have been any serious 
breaches of propriety during the day. Should there be, 
they must be dealt with on their merits. Should a dispo- 
sition to "whisper" manifest itself, the teacher will politely 
ask that the act be not repeated, because of its disturbing 
others. Should it be repeated, the offender should be 
reminded of the former request. Very rarely will it be 
difficult to get through the day without trouble. At the 
close, or earlier if the teacher thinks it best, his policy in 
regard to the matter, may be announced. In some way, 
however, every school ought to recognize the fact that 
whispering is an evil and forbid it. 

When all the business of the day is over, sing a 
rousing song, and dismiss in order. Before returning on 
the morrow, the teacher should review the first day's work 
thoughtfully, profit by all its experiences, and plan his 
work for the second day. 

ANOTHER DAY AT SCHOOL. 

Important as is the "first day," the whole term can 
not be judged by it. Neither can it be taken as a pattern 
by which all other days are to be cut. There are certain 
phases of school work that do not develop until after the 



SOME POINTS ON SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 59 

permanent organization is effected. Were we to look in 
upon a dozen "good" schools we should find that each has 
its individuality — no two are exactly alike. It is under- 
stood, therefore, that a school may be successful and not be 
modeled after a successful neighbor. Neither do we claim 
that to be pronounced "good" must it be patterned after 
the one herein described. We aim in these following par- 
agraphs merely to picture a school that was counted 
successful, and, according to our view, one that merited 
that judgment. 

In this school the teacher was at his post of duty a 
full half-hour before nine o'clock. He saw that the room 
was properly warmed. He placed any needed work upon 
the board. He was there to speak a pleasant 
good morning to the pupils as they entered. Earjy 

° ^ "^ '^ •' Arrival, 

His mere presence served to exercise a whole- 
some influence over the assembling pupils. There was no 
shouting, no scuffling, or running over desks. There was 
animated conversation, however, in which teacher and pupils 
joined, and in which the courtesies of life were duly ob- 
served. Five minutes before nine the bell was rung, pupils 
who were indoors passed quietly to their seats; those upon 
the play-ground formed in lines before the door and on 
signal marched into the school-room. The building being 
a modern one, has a cloak-room, through which the lines 
passed and in which the wraps were left, each in its ap- 
pointed place. Had there been no suitable cloak-room, 
the wraps might have been gathered by monitors on the in- 
side. At nine o'clock the teacher's bell proclaimed that 
school had begun. The few absentees, some of whom came 



6o THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

in later, were quickly noted without a formal roll-call. As a 
rule, however, there was little tardiness and absence, both 
of which are inimical to successful work. No school can 
be counted successful in which there is much of either. 
From the first day the teacher of this school 

Tardiness ^ ■, ■ • • r 

and had striven to create a sentiment in favor of 

Absence. 

regularity and punctuality. By beginning in 
the long, pleasant days of autumn, it was easy to set 
the sentiment going with such an impetus that even the 
short days were not able to overcome it. There was no 
scolding, but by appealing to the nobler feelings of child- 
hood, and above all, by making the work so interesting 
that every day and especially the beginning of everyday 
was counted a thing too valuable to lose, the main point 
was gained. Wide-awake, enthusiastic pupils were set to 
work upon the laggards. Parents were visited. All these 
and many other things were done, and can be done again 
by every teacher, toward breaking up that lamentable 
irregularity and lack of punctuality so prevalent in many 
schools. There are worse things than tardiness and 
absence, it is true, but few schools have to contend with 
them. The teacher who succeeds by rational methods in 
overcoming these twin evils, will find that many others 
will disappear in their train. It is possible to use silly or 
barbarous methods to overcome them. Such, of course, 
are to be avoided. That which will come nearest to being 
a "sure cure" is interest, and this should be the teacher's 
first recourse. 

Following the roll-call were opening exercises. These 
were varied from day to day. One morning they would con- 



SOME POINTS ON SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 6% 

sist of interesting chemical or j)hysical experiments. (Many 
such have been described in the Youth's 
Companion.) The next day there would be a opening 

' ■' ■' Exercises. 

few short recitations by different pupils, and 
quite frequently there were songs sacred and secular, (but 
not sillv), in which all joined. Occasionally the news of 
the day was presented in a "paper" edited by the language 
classes. Sometimes an interesting story or chapter from an 
interesting book, the Bible included since there were no 
objections, was read. "Queer queries," concerning the 
common things of the world about them elicited interest 
and enthusiasm. Science lessons on such topics as "How 
coal is made," "Where rubber comes from," "What the 
moon is like," etc., were given. An interesting biography, 
now and then, was included. Memory gems were recited 
occasionally. "Whittier's Day," "Washington's Birth- 
day," and the like had literary and historical value. Health 
lessons, good morals, and gentle manners appeared. A 
program committee assisted the teacher and helped to 
increase the interest. The influence of these opening ex- 
ercises toward preventing tardiness and absence and 
increasing the interest of both pupils and patrons, aside 
from their culture value, was great. 

After the opening exercises were over, the teacher 
gave such general explanations as were needed, and the 
school settled down quietly to its legitimate work — study 
and recitation. A program, printed by the 
teacher, upon manilla card-board, was con- working by 

^ ' Schedule. 

stantly before the school for the guidance of 

both teacher and pupil. If the teacher is in touch with 



62 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

his pupils, he can soon determine whether they are rightly- 
dividing their time. It will not require many days to de- 
termine this. Then if it be ascertained that the pupil is 
neglecting his Language work for his' Arithmetic,his Geog- 
raphy for his History, or any or all for an interesting 
book, a change can be effected. 

In our school the time and attention of the teacher 
were almost entirely occupied with recitations. True, the 
least inclination toward evil was sure to find the all-seeing 
eye of the teacher turned full upon it, but in spite of that 
the teacher taught with all his might. There were no- 
interruptions, requests, or questions from those who were 
not reciting. The books, pencils, knives, etc., 
Schooi-ioora were providea m advance, and each pupil 

Conditions. 

Studied his own lesson. Each decided for him- 
self the propriety of any movement from his seat, knowing 
full well that the abuse of any privilege meant an abso- 
lute forfeiture thereof. Feet and books were moved 
quietly, because each had been made to feel that unneces- 
sary disturbances were absolute thefts of time. There are 
but few pupils so obstinate that they will persist in causing 
disturbance after the matter is properly presented by a 
teacher for whom they have respect. When a general 
spirit of listlessness seemed to be developing, all work was 
put side for two minutes while a song was sung or a calis- 
thenic drill given with several of the windows open. Pure 
air is an efficient ally of law and order. Many an insur- 
rection has been suppressed by this agency alone. In the 
passage to and from recitations, to the black-board, and 
about the room the same principles governed. All work in 



SOME POINTS ON SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 63 

which a number participated was directed by signal. Rise, 
Pass, Seats, Turn, Erase, and the like, were frequently 
heard and promptly obeyed. 

The recitations showed preparation on the part of the 
teacher and pupil. Each member was interested and any 
lagging was instantly detected. The recitation was more 
than a "quiz." It was a place of positive teaching. 
Something new was constantly evolving. The relations of 
teacher and pupils were free from constraint, yet respect- 
ful and genteel. There was no scolding. Work was ready 
because pupils knew that no work escaped preparation. 
It was only a question of now or later. The 
attitudes of teacher and pupils, in the recita- The 

^ '^ ' Recitation. 

tion or out, were never unseemly. Tones were 
low, yet distinct, and the language employed was as good 
as its users could make it. Questions were asked and di- 
rections given but once. Hands were raised to indicate a 
willingness to answer. Pupils were encouraged to ask 
appropriate questions, and the uplifted hand indicated 
such a desire. Pupils were not called upon in any definite 
order. No one knew when his time was coming, except 
when he became inattentive. Bright pupils did not 
monopolize the time. Every mind in the class was kept 
on the alert from beginning to end. With this teacher 
every recitation was a part of a general scheme. As such 
it served to further a certain general aim. But in addition 
to this general object, each lesson had its own specific 
purpose or purposes. It might serve to test the pupil's 
preparation of work assigned; to give a drill in thoughtful 
expression; to ascertain the further needs of the pupil; to 



64 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

provide needed help by question, suggestion, reference, 
or statement from the teacher and by the variety 
Purposes. of ideas and modes of expression among pupils; 
or to impress ideas by the various forms 
of review that the recitation furnishes. Sometimes 
several of these ends were sought through the various 
phases of the recitation or even through a single aspect of 
the lesson. But such a thing as a purposeless recitation 
or even a recitation without a definitely recognized pur- 
pose was unknown in that school. 

To secure these ends requires effort — forethought and 
determination. The teacher is the principal factor in the 
success of the recitation, although the pupil also has a 
part. The teacher's part begins in his preparation for the 
assignment of the lesson. The term "preparation" is 
used advisedly. Lesson assignment ought to mean some- 
thing more than a mere, "Take the next." The nature of 
the lesson itself, the capabilities of the pupils, the amount 
of time at their disposal, the relations of this lesson to 
past and future lessons, the amount and kind 
Assigning of help necessary, all should be in the teacher's 

Lessons. ^ •> ' 

thought in making the assignment, and to get 
them there requires effort. After the teacher has deter- 
mined what the assignment shall be, he should make it 
with such unmistakable clearness that no pupil can mis- 
take the amount or nature of his work. The time neces- 
sary for such an assignment, even for writing it upon the 
board, occasionally, will be well invested. This definite- 
ness rarely precludes an assignment in such form as to 
accommodate the varying capacities of the pupils. If the 



SOME POINTS ON SCHOOL MAMAGEMENT. 65 

lesson be assigned topically, yet skillfully, the weakest 
and the strongest alike can employ the full time 
allotment. 

When the lesson is once assigned, it is, in a measure, 
handed over to the pupil. Knowing what is expected of 
him and knowing it will be required of him, he sets about 
his work. Whatever preliminary preparation .^a^- 3 

is necessary, he makes. If he be an ideal stu- of the ( 

lycsson, 

dent, he enters into the work with a vim. His 
entire thought is given to the contest at hand. With con- 
fidence in himself and in the teacher's judgment in the 
assignment, he expects, he desires nothing but complete 
success. The artifical and external incentives which 
must be applied to others are not needed for him. His 
motive power comes from within. He has learned that he 
has power and how to use it in genuine effort. In short, 
he has acquired the power of self-direction — he can study 
and wills to study. Before the hour for the recitation 
artives, the teacher finds time to take up the lesson in. 
detail and plan its presentation. He determines the 
method — whether interrogative, topical, or lecture — the 
sequence of topics and the amount of time each shall 
receive, the supplementary matter to be introduced, the 
illustrations necessary, the management of each class so 
that each pupil shall get the greatest possible benefit. He 
refreshes his knowledge of the lesson so that it stands out 
clearly before his consciousness with its relations distinct. 
Fresh from this preparatory review, the teacher meets his 
pupils and imparts to them his own fervor of thought. 
There can be nothing cold or lifeless in such a recitation. 



66 THE MISSOURI SUPERVIbOli. 

Sympathy of interest prevails. Sincerely and earnestly 
does the teacher strive to make this recitation the means of 
putting into the soul of the pupil something that was not 
there before. For such a recitation, a beautiful room, 
slate blackboards, library, apparatus are but accessories. 
There are but two vital and indispensable elements in that 
organic unity — these are teacher and pupil. Given a 
Garfield and a Hopkins and the recitation is a foregone suc- 
cess, even with a log for a recitation-seat and the forest 
for a school-room. 

Under ordinary circumstances, however, it must be 
admitted, Mark Hopkins will have a much easier time with 
his Garfield, than he would likely have as teacher of a 
class in the ordinary grammar or high school. In other 
words, it is less difftcult to stir the soul of one Garfield to a 
white heat, than to arouse a perceptible warmth within the 
class of forty. So varied are the tastes and capabilities of 
the forty that despite the teacher's enthusiasm and mas- 
terly comprehension of the subject, some there will be who 
will fail to catch his spirit, and hence the need of good 
judgment relative to the more mechanical elements of the 
recitation. There may be such mismanagement that even 
the fullest familiaritv with the lesson and the most glowing 
enthusiasm will not avail. The teacher must not keep his 
eye so continuously fixed upon the stars as to fail to take 
an occasional look for possible obstructions to his feet. In 
the ideal recitation the confidence of the pupil is not 
abused by a manifest failure. Neither is he purposely 
kept in the dark concerning the purpose of the re citation, 
as the manner of some is, until a final "grand stand play" 



SOME POINTS ON SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 67 

can be made. The ideal recitation is not developed on 
the plan of the modern novel with a resplendent climax at 
the end of a protracted mystery. It is not expected that 
the pupil will foresee the end as the teacher sees it, neither 
ought the pupil to be expected to relish a shock of enlight- 
enment at each initiation into some new truth. Another 
characteristic of this ideal recitation is concentrated 
thought on the part of the pupils. With the end, so far 
as they perceive it, as a goal, they employ their energies 
in hard, steady, consecutive thinking. The teacher's 
method is such as to direct them into channels of contin- 
uous thought, and the pupils have sufficient power to keep 
themselves there. In too many recitations, neither teacher 
nor pupil seems to have the power of persevering. They 
move by jumps which are as likely to be backward or side- 
ward as forward. 

Questioning is the usual avenue by which the teacher 
enters the pupil's circle of thought. The primary purpose 
of questioning — that of eliciting information — is lost in 

class questioning, and other ends take its place. 

„. . , . ... Purpose 

ihe primary purpose of class questioning is of 

Questioning. 

not always the same. At one time it may be 
to test the pupil's recollection of certain facts or his 
preparation of certain work. At another it may be to 
ascertain the correctness of the pupil's ideas or his 
degree of comprehension of a given subject. Again it 
may be to direct and develop thought, thus leading 
him into paths which his feet would not otherwise tread. 
These objects increase in dignity and importance in the 
order named, and although it may not be claimed that the 



68 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

last is the most general aim of class questioning, it may 
be said that no other equals it in value. , Nevertheless, it 
is true that much class questioning never rises beyond the 
dignity of a mere memory test. Fellow-teacher, what is 
the object of your questioning? Is it insti-itciivc, educative? 
Does it guide and stimulate thought? There are times, of 
course, when the desire is to ascertain what the pupil 
knows and how correctly he knows it, but too few are the 
teachers who know of the higher value of questioning. 
The form of questions must be governed, in part, by their 
purpose. If the aim be to direct and develop thinking, 
certain forms are at once excluded. There will be neither 
guidance nor development in questions that are ambiguous 
or indefinite, or those that overwhelm the pupil, in those 
that require an answer of merely j'^i' or no, or put a pre- 
mium on guessing. Questions should be concise, varied, 
and suitable to the advancement of the pupils. The 
answer should be concise, yet complete, in full statements, 
usually, and pertinent to the question. 

These qualities our teacher endeavored to embody 
in his class-work. In the meantime his spirit is felt 
throughout the school. He governs by encouraging 
right and preventing wrong — by appealing to the pupil, in 
the best ways possible, to choose to do the right, prevent- 
ing, by creating an atmosphere unfavorable to wrong-doing 
and one not in sympathy with it. Success in school gov- 
ernment depends largely upon the ability to repress the 
evil and develop the good until the latter obtains undis- 
puted sway in the life of the individual. The evil is 
repressed by allowing neither time nor opportunity for its 



SOME POINTS ON SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 69 

development. Pupils who are kept constantly busy 
under the watchful, sympathetic eye of an honorable and 
capable teacher and who feel constant appeals made to a 
noble principle within, will soon yield to the good. Rare 
will be the exceptions. If the teacher has the tact to force 
his pupils to assume the responsibility for their own 
choices of conduct, they will generally choose right. 

Good disciplinarians are seldom made by precept. 
But imperfect ones may be helped by suggestions. The 
following rules for the teacher will be suggestive, at least, 
if thoughtfully considered: 

1. Be capable in teaching. 

2. Be honorable in action. 

3. Have ideas of right and stand by them. 

4. Be strong, not vacillating, 

5. Begin to govern in time. 

6. Keep pupils busy. 

7. See everything that happens — before it happens. 

8. Appeal to the best that is in every pupil and 
compel him to realize the character of his acts. 

9. Be not afraid to talk with a pupil alone. 

10. Let the offender suffer the natural consequences 
of his wrong-doing, as far as possible. 

In concluding this chapter on School Management, 

the authors desire to emphasize the fact that it is onl}'' a 

chapter that they have attempted. A "philosophy" of the 

subject is beyond their aspirations. To set 

this forth some helpful suggestions has been their 

Chapter. 

desire, the height of their ambition. 



TO THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 



PART SECOND. 



CHAPTER I. 



READING. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Reading ranks first in importance in any course of 

study. Without it no other subject could be pursued. No 

other subject influences human conduct so much. Religions 

and forms of government are changed by it; 

Reading iu a 

Course of the achievements of the past are laid at our 

study. 

feet through its influence; illustrious deeds 
of departed heroes are held up for our admiration; the 
philosophy of the ancients is compared with that of the 
present; through it, we receive the choicest thoughts of 
the greatest intellects of all ages. Through it, we are 
enabled to converse with Homer and Aristotle; with Virgil 
and Caesar; with Caedmon and Bseda; with Chaucer and 
Spenser; with Bacon and Shakespeare; with More and 



READING. 71 

Milton; with Whittier, Bryant, Longfellow — any poet, 
historian, or philosopher of any age. 

Reading is the key that unlocks the storehouse con- 
taining all knowledge. What, then, can be said cf its 
importance? Who should be able to reap its benefits? 
How well should it be understood? When 
should it be commenced? What are its dififi- importance 

of Reading. 

culties? "There is no other subject so important" 
is the universal answer. Every intelligent creature with a 
soul to expand should receive its benefits. Without it, 
mental growth would almost cease; the energies of a 
people would be confined to narrow limits; gossip, 
scandal, and ignorance would take the place of discussion, 
social intercourse, and intelligence. 

It should be so well understood b}^ all that the thought 
and feelings of the author as represented upon the page 
should be instantly presented to the reader's mind with- 
out waste of mental energy in removing difficul- 
ties. The eye of the reader should possess Thoroughness 

-^ ^ in Readiug. 

such skill that the instant it catches the word 
the idea should appear in his mind, and he should scarcely 
be conscious that the word is there- — he is conscious of 
the soul of the word, the idea, but not of the word itself. 

Reading should be so mastered that the reader feels a 
keen interest in the article read; feels that he is listening 
to the narrative by the author in person; he should l<now 
how the author looks, where he lives, what is his charac- 
teristic style, the subjects he loves to dwell upon — all 
about him. 

Reading should be known so well that companions 



71 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

may be selected from the great list of authors that will be 

helpful and inspiring. It should enable the reader to 

choose from the good, the best; to select from 

What Reading , , ^ ■ . ■ i i t i i i 

Should the best, their choicest thoughts, it should 

Do for Us. 

cause us to yearn for the companionship of the 
good and great; it should make us /« reality think and feel 
as they thought and felt when they penned their master- 
pieces. Reading should be so mastered that the whole 
scenes and pictures should appear in the mind — not simply 
outlines. It should develop literary taste, and literary 
judgment. It should create in us a desire to have libraries 
containing the best thoughts of the best authors written, 
as they are, at their best periods of life. 

Reading in the common acceptation of the term 
applies to school work, or the preparation for this higher 

phase. As such it should remove the median- 
Reading as . , . , ,.,,., 
Commonly ical obstacles and give the greatest skill in the 

Understood. 

use of the organs employed in getting the 
thoughts and feelings of the author as represented upon 
the page. 

Reading should be commenced early. When we con- 
sider that of all the pupils who enter school, only one out 
of every twenty-four ever finish the common school course, 

we are forced to say that reading should be 

When Reading . . 

Should be taught in all its lullness as early as possible. 

Commenced. 

At an early age the obstacles should be removed, 
and the organs used in mastering the mechanical side of 
the subject should be trained; the ability to grasp the 
"soul" of the lesson — the thought and feeling — should be 
given; literary taste and judgment should be developed. 



READING. 73 

Its difficulties are mechanical and psychical and may 
be overcome by proper training. With improper training 
at the outset, students are constantly meeting with the 
same obstacles from year to year, with loss of 
interest on the part of the pupils; with proper pf^^yj^jgg 
training these are removed as they are encoun- 
tered, and interest with each succeeding lesson increases. 
Poor interest usually comes through poor teaching; poor 
teaching comes from low ideals of the teachers concerning 
what constitutes good reading. Some consider the read- 
ing good when a student pronounces all the words with 
little or no hesitation, regardless of the thought and feel- 
ing contained; the ideal of other teachers is reached when 
there are ready pronunciation and distinct articulation. 

If a teacher's ideal is low, reading that reaches it will 
be pronounced good; if the ideal is high, it will require 
good reading to meet the requirements, Every teacher of 
this subject should have high ideals of the 
requisites of good reading. In Arithmetic a ideals, 
problem is pronounced incorrect if any principle 
is violated; so, in reading, should a teacher criticise by the 
same rigid test. 

Good reading is interpretation — interpretation of the 
thoughts and feelings of the author as represented by the 
article considered. Reading is therefore of two kinds; viz, 
for self and for others. Reading for self is 
usually done silently; for others, orally. Read- pH"^"^ 
ing for self is bringing the represented thoughts 
and feelings of the author into the consciousness of the 
reader. Reading for others is much more difficult; the 



74 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

thoughts and feelings oi the author as represented upon 
the page must be understood and felt in their fullness before 
it can be represented orally to others. Perfect reading for 
others would awaken in their minds exactly the thoughts 
and feelings as awakened in the mind of the reader of the 
same experience and mental ability. In order for the 
listener to grasp the thoughts and feelings as 

Requisites of 

Good gathered from the page and represented orally, 

Oral Reading. ^ ^ ^ ^ ^' 

it is necessary that the reading be loud enough 
and distinct enough to be heard and uttered with natural- 
ness — "the word suited to the action, the action to the 
word." 

DIFFICULTIES IN READING. 

The difficulties in reading are psychical and mechan- 
ical. The psychical difficulties arise from illogical, con- 
fused habits of thought. This mental condition can, in a 

majority of cases, be overcome, and the 
Diffi'uitie students taught to think, or, more strictly, to 

confine their thoughts to definite channels. 
Questions and suggestions tending to focus the mind on 
the central thoughts of the lesson will do much from day 
to day toward fixing the habit of logical thought. The 
language exercise in connection with every reading lesson 
should direct the mind into correct mental habits. The 
student should be led to distinguish between the important 
and the unimportant facts of the lesson and to understand 
the relation of all minor facts and circumstances to the 
central ones. The thought of many good minds is vague 
at first and needs the direction of a skillful teacher. 



READING. 75 

Mechanical obstacles in reading are of two classes: 
those that the reader must overcome in himself, and those 
he must overcome in the article read. The second class 
will be discussed in connection with the various 
readers. Good vocal expression requires that pff^^'ylJi'^*^ 
there shall be strength enough for the listener 
to hear the words of the sentences without a special effort; 
articulation, that the elements of the words, sounds, may be 
easily heard; and modulation to give naturalness. Teach- 
ers with high ideals of good readmg will find the obstacles 
in securing these results, and also a remedy for their cor- 
rection. In addition to the suggestions in connection with 
each lesson, general lessons should be given . frequently in 
order to show what the defects are, their seriousness, their 
cause and how to correct them. Poor vocal expression 
usually comes from some of the following causes, usually 
several of them combined: 

1. Incorrect position of chest. 

2. Incorrect position of arms. 

3. Incorrect position of head. 

4. Prevailing nasal tones. 

5. Rigidity of facial muscles. 

6. Failure to use the lips. 

Telling pupils of these defects does but little good, 
because they do not realize nor fully understand what is 
being said till these defects are made glaring by example. 
These obstacles should be removed as early in the term as 
possible, or more strictly, should be assailed, — the assault 
being kept up the entire term. The time will be well 
spent if the teacher takes the time of the whole room to 



76 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

point them out. The whole room is suggested because 
the defects of all grades are of the same character. Such 
general exercise once or twice given near the beginning of 
the term will remove some of the hindrances and make the 
others clear to the students, and they will avoid as many 
as habit will permit. The interest will be increased and 
the students will criticise with reference to these sins 
against expression. With high ideals of expression once 
fixed in their minds, the great work is done — they train 
themselves. 

The following general exercise is recommended to 
show these defects to a class or school. Bend the body for- 
ward and backward slowly, talking or reading as you do so. 
Have the pupils listen and decide what position 

Incorrect . . 

Position of IS corrcct for good vocal expression. They will 

The Chest. ... 

always decide that the erect position is correct. 
Repeat this till all fully understand this fact. When this 
is done, explain that the impure tones are caused by the 
muscles pressing upon the ribs, combined with the 
lessened cavity containing the lungs. It is easy here to 
show that standing on one foot causes a similar result. 

Place the arms across the chest allowing them in any 

way to press against it. Continue to read or talk, carrying 

the elbows to the sides, or removing the pres- 

Incorrect . . 

Position of surc. Repeat several times. Have papils to 

Arms. 

decide what is the natural position. Explain 
the cause. The chest serves as a sounding-board, and 
anything touching or pressing against it destroys its power 
of vibration. 

Read or talk with the head erect, slowly moving it 



READING. 77 

forward and downward till the chin almost rests upon the 
breast. Continue to read or talk till the head is in its 
natural, erect position. Again have pupils to 

Incorrect 

decide the proper position for good expression. Position ot 

f t- t- o r- Head. 

The muscles and tendons press upon the throat 
and prevent the vibrations necessary for expression. Show 
this by lightly pressing one finger against the throat, and 
speak or read. The muscles and tendons have the same 
effect as pressure by the finger. Show that only nasal 
sounds should be made through the nose and 

Pre\,'ailing 

that there should not be a Arevai/ins" nasal tone. Nasal 

^ * Tones. 

Clearness, freedom from nasal tones, the proper 
use of the tongue, teeth, and palate make the voice attractive. 
Hold the jaw stationary and read or speak. Now, have 
students watch the chin rise and fall while you 

Ridgity of 

read or speak naturally. Some words are made Facial 

Muscles. 

with the mouth almost closed, others, with the 
teeth far apart. 

Read or speak without using the lips. The student 
will see that there are many words requiring perfect free- 
dom of the lips. To the foregoing many other difficulties 
to be met might be added. It is safe to say 
that the teacher who shall eradicate these will Ups. 
discover the minor ones and apply the proper 
remedy. Begin on the great evils and with their correction 
the small ones]will disappear. The foregoing exercise will 
enable the students to decide for themselves what -are the 
causes of the most common errors in expression. With 
this knowledge acquired, they at once have their ideals of 
good expression raised, ''esulting in good expression in 



78 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

reading, and improved expression in conversation. 

Let us here remark that loose, careless, lazy, drawling, 

inarticulate conversation is common, and that a cultivated 

voice is the exception. We speak in monotone from "morn 

till noon, from noon till dewy eve." Some 

Expression . ,11, , r ^ 

in voices are so loud that they smack of rudeness; 

Conversation. 

some husky or rasping; some shrill and some 
drawling. We lack rich, mellow, modulated voices. 
Students will not change their voices until they realize the 
benefits. They will not realize these until correct expres- 
sion is contrasted with the incorrect. The ability and 
desire to improve the expression must be given to the 
student. There should be a general awakening among the 
teachers on the subject of expression, both in reading and 
conversation. 

A PLAN IN TEACHING READING. 

An ideal recitation in reading may be divided into 
four parts as follows: 

I. The language exercise. 

The Parts of a 

Recitation in 2. 1 he word-recognitiou. 

Reading. 

3. The capitalization and punctuation. 

4. Reading for expression. 

Their natural order is as indicated above. TheUstress 
to be placed upon any one part will depend upon the 
grade of the pupil and the character of the lessson. Capi- 
talization and punctuation are only incidental and are con- 
fined chiefly to the lower grades. The other exercises are 
always prominent, and proper attention should be given to 
each in every recitation. 



\ READING. 79 

The object of every lesson is to convey to the 
student information, to increase his intelligence, to appeal 
to his feelings, and to strengthen his will power. Clustering 
around these central objects are many things that 

The 

are necessary corollaries of them. The benefits Language 

Exercise. 

of each lesson must go to the student. When a 
lesson is properl}' prepared and recited the student is 
mentally stronger than he was before. The language 
exercise should always precede word-recognition or reading 
for expression. Its objects are to interest, to test the 
preparation of the lesson, to encourage accurate observa- 
tion, to stimulate mental activity, to train in correct habits 
of thought, and to bring logical conclusions. 

Each lesson has its new features, and the teacher 
should know what they are. The sonl of the lesson is 
brought out in the language exercise. The student is 
trained in observing and seeing the relation of all minor 
facts or circumstances to the important parts of the les- 
son. The language exercise should arouse intense 
interest among the students, and each should be encour- 
aged to enter into it with all his mental vigor. No one 
should speak except when called upon, but all should be 
ready and anxious to respond. Intense silent mental 
activity should be going on with all members except tl:ie 
one who is expressing his thoughts. Thought power is the 
object, and a lifeless, aimless language exercise arouses 
but little thought and does but little or no good. Any 
exercise that does not get an individual out of his ordinary 
"gait" is worth but little; any exercise that causes more 
than the usual amount of blood to flow to any particular 



8o THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

organ gives strength and increased growth to it. So it is 
with the mind; activity causes mental growth. The 
student should be taught that the best recitation is by the 
one that gives the best interpretation of the lesson. 
Thought must be behind all expression. Oral expression 
is always desirable, but clear thinking will generally find 
clear language for expression. The work of all teachers is, 
primarily, to develop thought and, secondarily, to train in 
the expression of thought. How any teacher can take up 
any lesson in an}' modern school reader, ask a few formal 
questions, get a few parrot answers, call the children to 
pronounce the lesson, and have a clear conscience and 
peaceful dreams is a myster}' that is yet unexplained. The 
whole scene should be made so vivid that it is left with all 
its details fixed permanently in the student's mind. When 
this is done properly, the student is prepared to express 
the thoughts in such a way as to bring out the meaning, 
giving prominence to what is important and the emphasis 
to what is not in proportion to its relative value. 

The printed words are only mechanical symbols to 

convey thoughts or feelings not expressed orall}' or by 

gesture. Since every symbol has a definite significance in a 

given connection, it is necessary' that the reader 

Word- must recognize the symbol and what it svm- 

Recognition. o j 

bolizes, or to know the name of the word and its 
meaning. Thought is continuous. To express thought 
represented by words it is positively necessary that each 
word and its meaning should be recognized instantly, for 
if this is not done the thought is broken and the effect lost. 
If the symbol and its meaning is recognized, there is no 



\ READING. 8l 

hesitation in expression and no improper modulation given 
— the meaning being clear, the modulation is proper. 
While the word-recognition is less interesting to teacher 
and pupil, it is very important and should not be neglected. 
Word-recognition must be rapid and certain. If words 
are not known at a glance the mental energy that should 
be confined to the thought of the lesson is used in finding 
out the word. The connection is broken, and good read- 
ing is impossible. Every new word recognized, its form, 
name, and meaning, increases the student's ability to do 
still more difficult work. Advancement into more difficult 
literature must come by constant increase of a reading 
vocabulary, coupled witii additional mental power. The 
task of recognizing all the words in any series of readers is 
no small one, yet continued systematically from day to day, 
the work will be accomplished. In our adopted readers 
there are about 5,000 different words, a vocabulary perhaps 
as large as is used by any person. This seems a great 
undertaking, but a simple calculation will show that the 
mastery of less than five words each day for the eight years, 
of seven months each, of our common school will do the 
work. Capitalization and punctuation are only incidental 
to reading. The written work in connection with reading 
and all other subjects should be capitalized and punctu- 
ated properly. In the first year the student 

Capitalization , , , , , , , , . • i - • 

and should learn nearly all rules of capitalization 

Punctuation. 

and punctuation and their application. The 
amount of work of this character, and the method of teach- 
ing it has been fully discussed in the paragraph upon the 
First Reader, 



82 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

When the student has given evidence in his language 

exercise that he understands the true meaning of the lesson, 

and when the words are mastered, both as to 

Ex^resfion^ form and meaning, he is ready to take up the 

lesson and read with expression. 

METHODS OF TEACHING THE ADOPTED READERS. 

FIRST READER. 

Train the eye, ear, and har.d of the primary pupil. 
Train the eye to recognize the word as a whole, not a com- 
posed of a number of elements. We learn by units — you 
do — all do. You would not take up the ele- 

Ear, Eye and 

Handas ments of a barn befoie ycu knew it. You know 

Factors in -' 

'"^' an engine at sight, but do } ou know what com- 

poses it? Train the student's tye to see the form of the 
word. When this has been done, give its name. In pre- 
senting each new' word, its foiiu nnd general appear- 
ance must be impres£(d upcn the child's mind. 
How? Through the e3e. It can not be reccg- 
^'o'"'^- .,. nized till its "picture" is presented to the mind. 

Recognition. ^ ^ 

Its form must precede its name. They are soon 
associated, and the pupil knows the word, that is, knows its 
name. If three strange persons were brought before you 
and their nanies given, could you at orce point out each 
and give his name correctly? You could not do so unless 
5'ou observed the features and general appearance cf e- ch. 
Could you readily give their names in passing tl e eye 
rapidly from one to the other? The name is associrted 
with the person slowly at first, then by further association 
the person and his name seem to blend. When the asso- 



\ 



READING. 83 



ciation is so perfect, the name would be presented to the 
mind the instant the eye glances at the person. 

Words are less interesting than persons. The process 
of recognition is the same. We should have every pupil 
to see the form of every new word. When the form is im- 
pressed, give the name. This process should be continued, 
the speed being increased till recognition is instant. When 
word-forms can be recognized instantly, then, and not till 
then, are the pupils prepared to read with good expression. 
Children will memorize the lesson, look at the ceiling, use 
good expression, give every word in exact order, and many 
teachers are so blind that they do not detect that their 
pupils are doing so. 

There are 576 different words in the Franklin Primer 
and First Reader, or nearly seven new words to each les- 
son. The average term of school in Missouri is about 140 
days, making about four new words each day. 

A 1-11 1 1 ■ 1 T 1 Words in 

Any child can learn this number if properly First 

Reader. 

taught. The teacher must know what the 
new words are. When words can be recognized instantly, 
spelling should be done. Spelling should ordmarily be done 
after the recognition exercise has been finished. . When 
words are all recognized, then have the pupils to read. 
Be sure the eye is following the line. Ask them to read 
as they talk. Have them judge for themselves who 
reads most like he talks. Have the pupil to read a 
paragraph; then let some other read the whole lesson. 

Train the eye to observe closely. It is more difficult 
for children to recognize small words than large ones. For 
example, in is more difficult than /// chair, than sea-bird; 



84 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

is, than afraid. Be sure all see the words. If five are in 
the class and only three are seeing, the lesson is only three- 
fifths mastered for the class, and there is a growing 
necessity for two classes instead of one. If retained in the 
same class, the two hold the three back, or else the two 
advance in their book, leaving a part of the work undone, 
and they soon form the habit of doing the work imperfectly 
— one of the worst habits a student can fall into. Give 
attention to all and special attention to those who need it 
most. Make the eye, ear, and hand the chief factors 
in learning to read; the eye to see the printed word, the 
ear to hear the spoken word, the hand to write the words 
at the seat to imprint them more deeply upon the mind. 

Any teacher who follows this plan must necessarily 
succeed in teaching the First Reader. Not much time is 
required. A student can in a term of six months read 
every lesson, spell and write every word, and read with 
ease, rapidity, and expression any strange reading contain- 
ing the words of this reader. It is a cruelty to keep 
children in the First Reader more than one school year. 

The following Model Lessons will make clear to the 
inexperienced the application of the foregoing suggestions. 

MODEL LESSON, No. I. 
Based upon lesson I, p. i, Franklin Primer, 

T. What do you see in this picture? 

S. A man. 

T. What is he doing? 

A. He is sitting on a bench, holding a cane 
Language and a newspaper. 

hxercise. ^ ^ 

T. What else do you see? 



READING. 8s 

S. I see grass, trees, and clouds. 

T. Again. 

S. I see a boat and a river. 

T. What else? 

S. Birds flying. 

S. I see a house on the other side of the river. 

T. How many think this is a river? 

S. I think it is an ocean. 

S. I think it is a river. 

T. Why? 

S. The house is on the other side. If it were an 
ocean you could not see across it. 

T. That house you see is a light-house; the water 
you see is an ocean; a light-house is generally built upon 
an island in the ocean, and has a great light in its top so 
sailors will not run their ships on the rocks. 

T. How many will try to remember what I have told 
you? 

T. This word is man. Who can find it again? 

S. I can. 

T. Again. (Give time for each to find it.) ^e'^co^'nition 

T. Again. 

T. Look at it. Now look from your book and see if 
you know how it looks. (Give some time for this, and see 
that all try to recall the word.) 

T. This word is see. Look at it. (Give time.) 

T. Find it. 

T. Again. 

T. This word is /. Look at it. 

T. Find /. 



86 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

T. Again. 

T. Find man. 

T. Again. 

T. Again. 

T. Find see. 

T. Again. 

T. Find /. 

T. What is this word? 

T. This? 

T. This? 

T. This? 

T. This word is a. 

T. Find it. 

T. Again. 

T. Let all spell this word — m-a-n, man, 

T. Again — m-an, man. 

T. Who can spell it without looking? 

T. Again. 

T. Class. 

T. Again. 

T. Let us all spell see — s-ee, see. 

T. Again. 

T. Again. 

T. Who can spell it without looking? 
T. Again. 

Reading for T. All do SO. 
Expression. 

T. Again. 

T. Who will read for me? 

T. That was good. 

T. Who else? 



READING. 87 

T. Who else? 

T. Who will read it so we will think he is talking? 
(Student reads.) 

T. Class, read. (They read in concert.) 

T. I shall now write this lesson on the board. See 
how straight I make the letters. Watch my hand as I make 
the words. 

T. Who will try to write it on your slate as well as I 
did? 

T. '" I shall come to see how well you have done your 
work when I have heard my next class. (Be sure to go.) 

MODEL LESSON, No. H. 
Based upon Primer, p. 8. 

T. Who can tell me all about this picture? 

T. What else do you see? 

T. What else? La«S_«= 

T. Where is the cat? 

T. Tell the use of cats. 

T. Anything else? 

T. Who can find the word cat? 

T. Again. 

T. Who else? 

T. Class, let us spell it — c-a-t, cat. 

T. Class, again. K'nition. 

T. Without looking. 

T. Again. 

T. Spell see. 

T. Spell man. 

T. Spell can. 



88 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

T. Who will read it? (Students read as call- 
Reading for ed upon. 

Expression. ^ 

T. Class, read. (They read in concert.) 
T, Now watch me write cat. You may write cat three 
times at your seats. 

MODEL LESSON, No. IIL 
Based upon Primer, p. 9. 

The language exercise in this is similar to former les- 
sons and may be shortened or lengthened according to 
the time the teacher has. In all cases, the objects of the 
language exercise should be kept constantly in 
language mind — viz: to train the child in language by the 

Exercise. a o j 

use of language, to develop accurate, 
thoughtful observation, and to awaken his interest in 
the lesson, and to make him know the whole scene, and 
feel the force of the whole lesson. When this is done, the 
child can read with expression, and not till then; he can 
not express what is not in his mind, and the onl}^ way to 
place it in his mind is by observation and comparison. 

In this lesson grouping is commenced. In the spell- 

ng at the top of the page it will be noticed that a and boy 

are grouped in the way they are usually associated, "a 

boy;" also, "the boy," and "I can see." The 

Word- object is to train the eye until it can "catch" 

Recognition. ■' •' 

groups of words as a single word is recognized. 
This is certainly the correct method. The groups are at 
first short, as in this lesson, and are lengthened as advance- 
ment is made. 

T. Children, notice at the top of the page that a and 



READING. 89 

boy are together. In talking we never say a-boy, but we 
say a boy — we say it naturall}' a boy. Notice, also, that 
the boy is written together and should be pronounced 
together, the boy. I can see is, also, grouped. 

T. Who can find a boyi 

T. The bov? 

T. / can see? 

T. Again. 

T. A boy? 

T. Again. 

T. Again. 

T. / can see? 

T. Notice that the last line is a question, and has a 
question mark after it. We make it this way. (Teacher 
shows class.) 

T. What is it called? 

S. A question mark. 

T. It is sometimes called an interrogation point. 

T. What is it sometimes called? 

S. An interrogation point. 

T. Whenever it is placed after a sentence 
we should read like we were asking a question. Readingfor 

-^ Expression. 

T. Who will step to the board and make it? 

T. Who will read it just like he talks? 

T. Who else? 

T. Who else? 

T. Class, read. (They read in concert.) 

MODEL LESSON. No. IV. 

Based upon lesson, p. ii. 

This language exercise should be conducted as sug- 



90 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

gested in preceding "Model Lessons," the children devel- 
oping the lesson, filling in all details necessary to a com- 
plete story about the picture. The teacher 
Language should direct the exercise by a few skillful 

Exercise. -' 

questions, briefly stated, — close observation, 
active thought and conciseness of statement being stimu- 
lated in the pupils. Word grouping should be continued. 

The child should at a glance of the eye recog- 
^o*""^- .^. nize "Can run," "This boy," "Tom can run." 

Recognition. ' J ' 

A drill in grouping will be of great assistance to 
teacher and pupil. Before grouping can be done success- 
fully, instant recognition of individual words must be 
accomplished. 

T. Students, the large letters are called capi- 

Capitalization , c^ , i i • • i i 

and tals. bee what words begm with them. 

Punctuation. 

T. Who can tell me one? 

S. "See." 

T. Another? 

S. "This." 

T. Another? 

S. "Tom." 

T. Another? 

S. "Do." 

T. Another. 

S. "Can." 

T. Every sentence should begin with a capital. 

T. See if this is true in this lesson. Look at the 
lesson. 

T. How many think so? (All raise hands.) 

S. There is one word not at the beginning that 



READING. 91 

begins with a capital. 

T. What is the word? 

S. "Tom." 

T. Yes, Tom is the name of a certain person. 
Names of persons should also begin with capitals. 

T. Let all repeat what I first told you about capitals. 

All. The first word of every sentence should begin 
with a capital letter. 

T. Again. 

All. "The first word, etc." 

T. How many remember what I told you about 
names of persons? 

T. All repeat it. 

All. Names of persons should begin with capital 
letters. 

T. Point out the marks in this lesson. 

T. Again. 

T. Another. 

T. Another. 

T. "What does it mean? 

T. Read just like you think this ought to be 
said if you were there playing. (Student reads.) Reading foi 

^ J r- ^ o V / Expression. 

T. Who will try to read it just right? (Stu- 
dent reads.) 

T. Who will read this with a soft, mellow voice? 
(Student reads.) 

T. Let me read it for you. Listen and notice my 
voice. (Teacher reads perfectly.) 

T. Who will try to read it as well as I did? (Student 
reads.) 



92 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

T. All read. (They read in concert.) 

T. I shall write this line on the board. You may 
write it three times at your seats. Be sure you get the 
capitals right and make a nice mark at the close. (Teach- 
er copies while the children watch.) 

T. I shall see who does it best. Pass to seats. 

Note: Each lesson has something new. The teacher should 
know what it is. Teach the new inductively, using such method as 
seems best. The foregoing is only suggestive to show the plan 
praticed by many good primary' teachers. Every teacher should have 
a "plan." This plan will vary somewhat with the lesson. No teacher 
can succeed without a plan, closely followed. 

Only one more model lesson on First Reader will be given, leav- 
ing the teacher to discover the new features of all intervening lessons. 
The following is given only for the purpose of showing that the 
thoughts brought out in the language work show close observation 
and correct conclusions. This is taken from an actual recitation, the 
regular work. 

MODEL LESSON, No. V. 

Based upon lesson p. 37, Primer, 

T. Tell me all about this lesson. 
T. What is her name? 
S. Her name is Nellie. 

S. She is having her mamma to guess what she 

Language haS. 

Exercise. 

T. How does her mamma look.-* 

S. She has her chin on her hand studying. 

T. What does she guess? 

S. A flower. 

T. Why? 

S. Because she knows little girls like flowers. 

T. How do you think she then looks? 

S. She shakes her head and says, "What can it be?" 



READING. 93 

T. What does her mother then do? 

S. She studies. 

T. What does her mother then guess? 

S. An egg. 

T. How does the little girl then look? 

S. She looks worried and says, "O, wt?/ mamma, it is 
not an egg." 

S. Her mamma studies again and says, "An apple?' 

T. How does the little girl then look? 

S. She looks pleased. 

S. She claps her hands. 

S. She says, "Yes, a big sweet apple." 

T. What else? 

T. What else? 

T. What else? 

T. Who is Fred? 

T. Who knows all the words? 

T. Read them at the beginning of the lesson. 

T. . Begin at the bottom and pronounce them? 

T. Do so from right to left. 

T. Who can do so faster? word- 

Recogition. 

T. All spell mainma. 

T. What words do you see beginning with capitals? 

S. "Mamma." 

T. Why? 

S. It is the first word of a sentence. and* 

Punctuation. 

T. Who sees another? 

S. I do. 

T. What is it? 

S. "Is." 



94 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

T. Why? 

S. It is the first word of a sentence. 

T. Any other? 

S. "Nellie." 

T. Why? 

S. It is the name of a person. 

T. Find another. 

S. "No." It is the first word of a sentence. 

T. Another. 

S. "O." 

T. Why? 

T. When O is used alone it is always a capital. 

T. Another. 

S: "Let." 

S. "An." 

S. "Yes." 

S. "Thank." 

S. "Nellie." 

T. Why? 

S. It is the name of a person. 

T. Another. 

S. "What." 

S. "Fred." 

S. "Fred." 

S. "Do." 

T. What marks of punctuation do you see? 

S. A question mark. 

T. What is its use? 

S. To ask a question. 

T. How do you read a sentence followed by it? 



READING. 95 

S. Like a question. 

T. Who else can find one? 

T. Again. 

T. Again. 

T. What other mark? 

S. An exclamation mark. 

T. Again. 

S. Again. 

T. What are they used for. 

S. To show that the sentence should be read as 
though the person was excited. 

T. What other mark? 

S. A period. 

T. What is its use? 

S. To mark the end of a sentence, or an abbreviated 
word. 

T. Find another. 

T. Who will read this lesson just right. Be sure to 
read just like the little girl talked, and then 
just like her mamma talked. Reading for 

■" E.^pression 

T. Who else will try to read it better? 

T. What mistakes were made? 

T. Who knows every word in this lesson just as 
soon as he sees it? 

T. I will now pronounce the hard words in your next 
lesson. 

SECOND READER. 

The Second should be studied and taught according to 
the same general plan suggested for the First. The Lan- 



96 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

guage Exercise, Word-Recognition, Capitalization and 
Punctuation, and Reading for Expression 

Use Same 

General Plan change to somc extent their relative importance. 

in Reading. 

The language exercise, or more strictly the 
thought, differs widely from that in the First. Every lesson 
in the First has for its subject-matter play, and it is such 
play as is confined to the room or to places under the 

mother's personal care. In the Second, t' e 

Child's circle .... 

of Activity has author recognizcs that the circle of the chi d's 

Increased. 

activity has increased; its responsibilities have 
increased; it has duties to perform; it has obligations o 
fulfill; it has new objects to see in the animal, vegetable, 
and mineral world. To continue upon subjects about which 
it knows fully would be to check its interest and stop its 
mental growth. The body and the mind grow by as im- 
lating new material. When new material ceases to be 
furnished, repair and growth cease. A new field of thought 
must be opened to the 7-year old suitable to his advance- 
ment. The author recognizes this fact, and has admirab'y 
provided the best — just what the child will relish and what 
it most needs. The play has changed; a greater fieedom 
has been given the child. It swings, or fishes, or enga;. es 
in sports. further removed from its mother — its personal 
responsibility increases. Those things that are so intin al- 
ly connected with character-building become prominent at 
this age. With this greater personal freedom, it becoires 
necessary to lay broad and deep the foundation upon which 
the child will build his character. 

This period is pre-eminently the age of character-build- 
ing, because it is the beginning, the age when the child 



READING. 97 

becomes self-directing. The author recognizing this fact 

makes the main object of 44 out the total 63 

lessons, the building of character. The main character- 
Building. 

object of the remaining 19 is the acquisition of 
knowledge of surrounding objects. Upon close observa- 
tion it will be found that these 44 lessons teach truthfulness, 
love of God, self-control, honesty, politeness, friendship, 
love for freedom, cheerfulness, kindness, and industry. 
A wonderful triumph for humanity if these lessons are 
made lasting! With these essential virtues impressed — with 
the foundation of character laid, the structure of knowledge 
may be safely built. Teachers should know what is in a 
book, and the main things to place the stress upon, before 
they can safely teach. The Second Reader contains many 
beauties. Would you teach your child without a definite 
aim? Would you be base enough to do so with the helpless, 
innocent child of another? The thousands are in the lower 
grades — the few in the upper. Which should receive the 
most time? It is obvious — the child that cannot help 
himself. 

The Word-Recognition should be kept prominent in 
this reader. The meaning must accompany the recog- 
nition. In this reader there are 70^ new words. 

Word- 
When it has been mastered, the child has a Recognition 

Prominent in 

speaking and a reading vocabulary of 1369 t'^'s Grade, 
words — 576 of which were learned in the First. This will 
require the mastery of about 6 words per day. The teach- 
er should see that they are mastered from day to day. If 
they are not, the student is soon dealing with many meaning- 
less terms, loses interest and ceases growing intellectually. 



98 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

In the mastery of words spelling is necessary. This 
will be discussed in a separate division. All marks of punc- 
tuation and the uses of capitals are introduced 

Punctuation . , • , , /^ i, , ■ 

and m this book. On page 15 all are used m one 

Capitalization. 

exercise. This is intended to be copied to train 
the hand and eye in the use. In lesson I. the quotation 
marks are introduced. These marks should be well under- 
stood in connection with the next succeeding seven lessons. 
In the same way, when an}' new mark is introduced it should 
be recognized whenever it is met with in the future and used 
by the pupil till it is a part of his being to such an 
extent that it will be applied unconsciously by him. It 

is then his, in fact. We learn things for their 

Form of work 

a good Index use; thev are not ours till we can use them. 

of a Student's ^ 

Knowledge. ^j^^ f^^.^^^ ^^ showu by a child's habitual work 
is a good index to what he knows. Knowing without using 
is in a way a waste of time and energy. When our use of 
knowledge becomes habitual, we have permanent power. 
When this thoroughness is acquired, it and all previously 
acquired knowledge become the instrumentalities 
for future acquisitions. If these conclusions are 
correct, what must be said of the care that 
should be used in imparting instruction? Reading for ex- 
pression should be continued. Students should 
Expression*! read with voices at proper pitch, not too high 
nor too low. Their voices should be trained in 
modulation. At this age their voices are in a formative peri- 
od. The suggestions of the author of our adopted books are 
helpful and should be studied. Pupils in the Second Reader 
can do far more than the average teacher thinks they can. 



READING. 99 

THIRD READER. 

The child who enters school , at six and makes the 
advancement that the average child under favorable con- 
ditions makes, finds himself entering the Third Reader at 
eight years of age. The circle of his informa- 

TTT- 1 • • • r Novelty the 

tion has again increased. Within its circumier- Motive Power 

in Learning. 

ence is the known, beyond is the unknown with 
which he is constantly coming in contact. The human 
mind loves novelty. The newspapers dwell upon "The 
War Cloud in the East," "Hawaiian Annexation," or any 
one of hundreds of topics till they see the people tiring, 
then they bring forth some other subject of real or fancied 
interest. Campaign issues change because the people tire 
of what is old, and new subjects are discussed with the 
greatest interest, not so much because the country needs a 
reversal or change of policy, as that the psychological ele- 
ment, 1107't'ity, renders the subject interesting. So it is with 
children. What is novel is interesting' a .d what is famil- 
iar is tiresome. That teacher does his work best who 
interests the student in what is new and holds his attention 
to it till he sees all that is novel and combines it with all 
that is familiar into one complete concept of the subject 
considered. 

The author of our adopted readers recognized the 
gradual widening of a child's mental vision, and has pro- 
vided reading matter full of interest and suitable in charac- 
ter to the demands of the mind of the eight-year- 

Adopted Books 

old. A sufficient number of lessons have been ga^'^'^/'po" 

Complete 

introduced to keep the moral faculties active ^''^'"°' 

and growing. Moral education lies at the foundation of 



lOO THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

human happiness and human progress. It determines the 
destiny of mankind — on eartli and beyond the grave. 
Complete living, our definition for education, must have 
been in the mind of the author when he prepared our 
adopted readers. Upon investigation it will be seen that 
thirty lesson have for their main objects the teaching of the 
chief virtues that go to make up good character. The 
teacher who fails to leave vivid the main objects of these 
lessons has failed to do the duty he owes to his pupils and 
to society. He must see in the pupil the future citizen, 
intelligent and moral. He must see in each lesson the 
great objects that contribute to the pupil's intelligence or 
morality. 

Forty-one lessons of the Third Reader have for their 
-iiain objects, science lessons. They are drawn from 
Geography, Zoology, Botany, narratives or descriptions 
How many students know well all the lessons in 

Forty-One , ^^ , , 

Lessons Based this reader? How many teachers understand 

Upon Science. 

"The Wonderful Boat and its Builders," 
"Frogs and Toads," "Bears," "The India Rubber Tree," 
and many others of a similar nature? When we consider 
that the only object of learning to read at all is to ''get 
the thought and feelings from the page,' ^ we realize that no 
lesson is read till the students get all the information con- 
tained, and feel the emotions that would be aroused were 
they present at the scene described. These forty-one 
lessons are chiefly for the information they contain, and the 
test of their being correctly read is the ability of the stu- 
dent to reproduce the substance of the lesson. 

The power to interpret the meaning of a Third RjaJer 



READING. lot 

lesson indicates that the pupil is able to increase his fund 
of knowledge from other books, and has the means of self- 
education at his command. The student in this reader is 
constantly called upon to exercise his judgment and use his 
imagination in "seeing" the views presented by the lessons. 
The student who reads glibly through the lesson, and can 
not write or tell the contents of it, distinguishing the im- 
portant from the unimportant, things told directly from 
those told indirectly, has not read the lesson at 
all. The main object of the lesson has been 
omitted — getting the thought. Such a lesson confers 
no more power than reading (?) the word lists at the head 
of the lesson or the lessons in the spelling book. Word- 
recognition is essential and should precede reading, but 
should not be confused with reading. It is only a 
means, not an end. No mental growth results from such 
a recitation; no power is conferred; no interest is awakened. 
Teachers who have such reading have poor language 
lessons, poor geography lessons, poor arithmetic lessons. 
Why? Because no meaning is gotten from any lesson — no 
lesson is read. Students need direction and 

Poor L,essons 

guidance in reading. At the beginning of thej^^sujtin 

^ '-' o o PoorLessonsm 

term the teacher should take special care to °^^^'" ^"''^^''^^ 
assist pupils in working out the meaning of the lessons. 
There should be system in doing so. Skillful questions 
will assist in causing pupils to look for the underlying 
meaning. 

Every student should be trained in thought-getting - 
from whatever he reads. The reading lessons are the 
ones where this training should be most prominent. It is 



103 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

in these recitations that the power of thought-getting 
should be conferred. When this ability is given 

Training in , , i n i i i ■ 

Thous?ht- the student, he reads all other lessons, his sup- 
Getting. 

plementary work, home study, and home reading, 

with an object in view — thought-getting. What is the use 
of a student's learning to read if he does not learn this? It 
is true he will learn it incidentally, but his knowledge will 
be imperfect. This phase of the lesson should be develop- 
ed systematically, and the student learns it systematically 
and in a much shorter time than if he "picks" it up. If 
system in the matter is introduced at the opening, the 
student learns the system, and assimilates it and uses it 
unconsciously — he has gained a permanent power. Any 
system with a rational basis is good. The following out- 
line for questioning and discussion is known to be good. 

T r^u- 4. f ^T (A. Primary. 
I. Objects of the ) ■' 

lesson. ") -o c- J 

^ 1- r , \ i^- Secondary. 

Outhne for class 

questioning and /n. Facts or cir- [ A. Expressed. 

discussion in read- J cumstances of-^ 

ing. / the lesson. ( B. Implied. 

III. Reasons for answers. 

This or some other system should be used in 

all reading classes above the Second Reader, and the 

students should understand how to write out or tell the 

contents of a lest on by it. It will save a teacher 

Sy.stem in 

Exaniiiiation much work, as he can frequently have lessons 

and '- •' 

rrepai-aiion. ^yj-jt^en out by it, and can see who is doing the 
work and who is not. By it, also, the class learn to do 



READING. 103 

neat form work. They also learn logical thinking. It is 
only suggestive. It serves as an excellent means of deter- 
mining quickly the preparation of the lesson. It aids 
teacher and pupils. It is comprehensive enough to get all 
out of the lesson. It should not be followed blindly with 
a few formal questions and answers, but should serve to 
direct the minds in connected, logical thought in full and 
free language. As remarked elsewhere the great object of 
school is to arouse logical thinking and mental activity. 
Any system of education that is not based upon the theory 
of mental growth of the child as the chief object, is a failure. 
Form work and memory work are essential but are second- 
ary to perception, reasoning, and judgment. Correct under- 
standing of all other subjects depends in a large measure 
upon the ability of the student to understand his reading 
lesson. Special attention given to reading will repay in the 
gain of time in the teaching of other subjects. 

Beauties of language, of description, and loftiness of 
sentiment should be pointed out by the teacher, and the 
pupils should be'trained to recognize and pomt them out. 
Literary criticism should be commenced in this 

J 1 • 11 1 11 1 • 1 1 Literary Criti- 

grade, and contmued through all higher work, cism Begun in 

This Grade. 

The large number of poems introduced in this 

book and the classics recommended in the appendix will 

furnish ample material for this phase of the work. 

All reading should be done naturally, in rich, mellow, 
well-modulated voices. Our author takes for granted that 
at the close of this grade the reading has reached the 
elocutionary stage, and accordingly has introduced a chap- 
ter in the beginning of the Fourth upon Elocution by Prof. 



I04 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

Bailey of Yale. These ideals of reading cannot be reached 
at once, but under good teachers, each following the same 
general plan of our author, they can be reached in a few 
years. 

FOURTH READER. 

The character of the selections show a broader field to 
meet the child's increasing mental activity. The lessons 
on science and literature increase whilo those on charac- 
ter-building decrease, there being only enough 

Selections 

Based upon j-q keep up moral growth, and to introduce 
i^iterature. nioral precepts less obvious than those of for- 
mer readers. The thought-side of reading should be 
pursued by the same scheme as previously suggested. 
Literary criticism should be more exact; literary judgment 
more accurate. 

The reading of this and succeeding grades should 
become more elocutionary. One caution here: No elocu- 
tionary reading in any grade should be attempted till the 
thought-side has been mastered. It would be 
Elocutionary absurd to attempt to express by speech and 
gesture what can not be interpreted — what is 
not understood. If the work has been properly done in 
previous grades, this higher phase of expression can, and 
should be, done. Every teacher should study the article 
on Elocution by Prof. Mark Bailey, pages 25-3S. The 
suggestions on pages 11 to 24, and the general directions 
on page 38 are valuable, and make any special suggestions 
unnecessary. A large number of standard authors are 
represented and selections from their master-pieces are 
given. Students should be made to feel a desire to 



READING. los 

read in its entirety the piece from which the selection is 
taken. 

Two classics recommended for this grade should be 
read. While at present but few schools read, in the lower 
grades, anything more than what is contained in the text, 
yet the day is not far distant when every first- 

Supple- 

class school, whether country, village or city, mentary 

Readiug. 

will give the children a taste of the standard 
literature in all grades. 

FIFTH READER. 

The selections of this reader are chiefly from Science, 
Literature, and History. The same plans as previously 
suggested are recommended with reference to the thought- 
side of the subject. "Essentials of Reading" science. 

Literature 

by Prof. Bailey, found on pages 13 to 61, make and History, 

the Basis in 

any additional discussion of the subject un- This Grade, 
necessary. Ninety-three standard authors are represented 
in this reader. In no grade should quantity be sacrificed for 
quality. In all grades the student must be in the mind 
of the teacher, and the greatest increase of mental power is 
the test of the best teaching. The idea so prevalent that 
any one can teach reading is erroneous. Too few teach- 
ers know what is good reading. Should it not demand 
more attention? 

LITERATURE IN THE COMMON SCHOOLS. 

Two classics should be critically read each year as 
supplementary reading. The great majority of children 
leave school at a comparatively early age, and the best 
educational thought declares that every student should 



io6 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

be given a taste for standard literature as early as possible, 

and have the opportunity of reading it for him- 

Taste for Self. How much richer in thought our students 

Literature. 

would be if they could have an opportunity to 
read sixteen classics in the eight years of the common 
school course! Yet is it not their right to have this oppor- 
tunity? Is it not our duty as their teachers to see that 
they have this opportunity? Should we not give them the 
best of everything in our power to bestow? How much 
richer intellectually you would be if you had had this priv 
ilege while in the common school. Shall we refuse it to 
our students simply because we did not have it? Or shall 
we give them an opportunity to drink at the fountain of 
knowledge and slacke their burning thirst? 

The reading lessons are well chosen, though fragmen- 
tary. Children should be allowed to read the stories that 
have delighted the gone-by ages. The poetry and song of 
the departed great should be a part of their 

What the . . 

Classics reading. The never-dying deeds of heroes 

Contain. 

should be cherished and read for their moral 
sublimity and for the strength of character they give. 
The legends and fables that have influenced the home- 
life of our ancestors are worthy of the attention of 
all. Stories setting forth the ideal state- of man's earthly 
life should be read for the placing in the consciousness 
typical states. Historical scenes should stand out to 
appeal to our patriotism. The domestic life of great 
nations should be woven into attractive forms of fact and 
fancy. National characteristics should appear in travels 
and story. Undying purity should be typified in real or 



READING. 107 

imaginar}'- characters. Superstitions of races with their in- 
fluence upon civilizations are attractive and instructive. 
The besetting errors of mankind should be told for the 
moral they convey. The subjects that have engrossed the 
energies of all nations at all times should receive careful 
study of all mankind — and especially the boys and girls of 
America, who are to lead our nation to grand achievements 
or into the paths of retrogression. Nothing grand and 
good is too precious to give our boys and girls. The mind 
is best educated that has its fullest expansion. The aim of 
the Creator is certainly for the greatest expansion on earth, 
expansion in knowledge, in right living, in purit}^ of 
thought, and nobleness in action. The greatest achieve- 
ments, the wisdom, the experience of mankind, has been 
handed down to us through literature. The best of this 
we call classics. Would it not be a sin against the inter- 
ests of the human race, an acknowledgment of a low con- 
ception of the importance of our mission to deny our 
children the benefits of the best of all the departed billions 
of the human race, "Since first the flight of time began"? 
As educators are we not criminal, cowardly or ignorant 
if we refuse to point out these best of the best to the inex- 
perienced and helpless placed in our charge — students who 
study whatever we select, good or bad, useful 
or useless. While the character is forming it our Duty as 

'-' Educators. 

needs direction and food for growth. A taste 
should be formed for what is good, and the fountain heads 
of knowledge should be visited, that the student may find, 
when alone, a place for psychical refreshment. 

By this study the student's vision is expanded. He 



io8 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

soon learns that he is one small unit whose activity and in- 
fluence is to be measured by that of any one of millions of 
other intelligent beings with like hopes, trials, 

What Classics . . . ,^ ^^. . , 

do for the Joys, and aspirations as himself. His ideas be- 

Student. 

come cosmopolitan, and he no longer confines 
his thoughts exclusively to his "parish bounds," but takes 
for the field of his activity the whole material and spiritual 
world. He approaches the universal in thought and 
action and does not confine himself wholly to the petty de- 
tails of daily existence, through which so many see no con- 
nection with the past or future. The fine sentiment, the 
moral ideas, the fine distinctions between right and wrong, 
become his own. Standards of purity are fixed; types of 
manhood and womanhood are accepted as models for guid- 
ance in future conduct. The logical analysis, the consist- 
ency of comparisons, and delicacy of discriminations are 
discovered and assimilated. The characteristic style, the 
choice he makes of words, the grandure of conception of 
an author become models for the reader, or serves as ex- 
amples with which to compare other authors. 

It cannot be urged satisfactorily that teachers do not 
have time for the classics. If properly taught, the interest 
they add will compensate any seeming loss of time. Upon 

an examination of our readers it will be found 

Have we Time 

for Supple- that the averao^e for the different grades is 63. 

mentary ° o -r 

Reading? lessons for cach year. This number is less than 
a half lesson each day of the average term, thus giving 
time to complete what usually is done, with half the term 
left for reading the classics. Any two classics recom- 
mended can easily be read and assimilated in the time al- 



READING. 109 

lotted. Even granting that some of the reading work were 
omitted in order to have the work in the classics, the time is 
more profitably spent. The articles in the readers, being 
fragmentary, cannot create the thirst for literature that 
other pieces in their entirety do. 

A PLAN FOR TEACHING THE CLASSICS. 

1. Have the literature in grade one at the reading 
period on Monday, grade two Tuesday, grade three Wed- 
nesday, etc., making the literature a special feature for 
each day. 

2. Do not allow pupils to keep the books except at 
such times as is desired for studying the lesson assigned. 
This will cause the class to look forward with anxiety to 
the day for literature. 

3. In the study, have the pupils to give time, place, 
and circumstances surrounding whatever is referred to 
in the lesson. Encourage the use of the dictionary. in all 
grades above the third. 

4. Teach as you would reading. 

SPELLING. 

The following are extracts from an article on spelling 
kindly furnished by Supt. F. P. Sever, the author of The 
Progressive Speller, adopted for use in Missouri schools: 

Science is usually defined as classified knowledge. 

The science of Botany is the knowledge we have of 
plants arranged in a systematic and convenient form. 
Spelling, then, is a science to the extent and in the sense 
that knowledge in its particular line is arranged in a sys- 



no THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

tematic form, and so classified that a general knowledge of 
the subject may be mere readily attained than would be 
possible without such classification and arrangement. 

Like Botany, like Physiology, or like any other science, 
the clearer, the more thorough, and the more apt or ger- 
mane the classification, the better, and the more nearly 
perfect it becomes as a science, as the knowledge is wid- 
ened and the classification is perfected. 

Spelling is now more nearly a science than it has been 
in the past, for the reason that there is at present a better 
classification of the facts and principles involved, and a 
better arrangement of words for spelling in accordance 
with certain principles involved than was noticeable twenty 
or even ten years ago. It is a fact that goes without prov- 
ing that the mind grasps principles and general rules more 
readily, and holds them in memory with less effort and 
with greater accuracy than it grasps or holds isolated 
points. 

For this safificient reason the idea of grouping words 
under general rules, and in general classes has been adopt- 
ed. The mind naturally associates and contrasts places, 

forms, dates, names, etc. 

* * 

* 

The law of association and of all the attendant con- 
trasts, agreements or disagreements, is certainly one of the 
greatest laws of memory and of mind. We are safe in 
saying that the human mind lives in a world of comparison, 
and we- are safe also in saying that we can only know of one 
thing by comparing it with something else, with something 
either like or unlike it. 



READING. Ill 

The grouping of words, either because of their agree- 
ment or disagreement, their similarity or their unlikeness, 
their association with the thoughts they represent, and the 
form they have when they represent certain thoughts is 
conforming to this, the greatest law of the mind, viz: the 
law of comparison, of association. 

Synonyms, antonyms and homonyms involve agree- 
ment or disagreement, association and contrast, and in this 
we have the scientific basis or ground for collecting and 
arranging groups of such words. This association tends 
to impress the spelling. We at once think of the gas we 
breathe when we see the word "a-i-r, " and we at once 
think of an individual when we see the letters "h-e-i-r, " 
because we have learned the word and its spelling in that 
association; and when a word form has been learned in a 
certain association, its form attends its association, and its 
association likewise attends its form. 

In this law and principle lies .the great reason for 
associating and teaching to a large extent the meaning and 
application of words along with their spelling, as is so 
thoroughly done in the spelling book recently adopted for 
use in Missouri. 

This same principle applies in the grouping of words 
that relate to a given subject, as Geography, Medicine, etc., 
and to the grouping of words under certain rules. If a 
hundred words of a certain class are spelled under a certain 
rule, and there are ten of the class that are exceptions, it 
is easier to learn and hold in memory the ten exceptions 
than it is to commit the form of the one hundred words 
without the aid of this rule, and still have the ten excep- 



112 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

tions to commit in addition. 

The arranging of words in lists that rhyme with each 
other, or that seem to have an easy jingle has its benefits, 
but it is not a scientific method. It is a method more to 
be recommended for pupils who need drill in sounds, for 
pupils who are nearly as likely to begin the word "hat" 
with an "1" as with an "h," or to begin the word "book" 
with an "s" as with a "b." 

The great and fundamental principle to be observed 
in spelling is the law of association, applied in various 
ways, and yet always the same law. 

Again, as "Necessity is the mother of invention," so, 
too, is it an incentive to good spelling. Create a necessity 
for the correct use of words, and correct use involves 
their correct spelling, and you at once have hold of the 
long arm of the lever. In doing this you are at the same 
time coupling the word with the thought it represents, and 
this leads us to a principle involved that is kindred to that 
of association, namely, the principle that spelling is to 
many persons, and in a large degree, a form study, appeal- 
ing to the mind through the eye. We learn how a word 
looks when written or printed, and recognize it when we 
see it, or in our mind's eye, we behold its form when we 
think of what the word stands for or names. 

The various letters involved and their relative posi- 
tions in the word are photographed, as it were, upon 
the mind through the eye. The truth of this statement is 
so self-evident, or has come, as we take it, so often to the 
attention of teachers, that we deem it scarcely worth while 
to argue its correctness. Granting its truth, then, it fol' 



READING. 113 

lows that, as a rule, the correct form should be presented. 



* 

* 



The letters in the words and the relative positions 
they occupy are fundamentals, while pronunciation is a 
close second. 

Diacritical marks are valuable in pronunciation where 
the values of the marks are known, but if the learner is not 
thoroughly familiar with the value of each mark, then the 
marks lose much of their effectiveness. The diacritical 
n^aiks, then, must, under the conditions, be used with 
such frequency as to render familiarity certain. 

The teacher will of course remember that the diacrit- 
ical mark is an accident and not an essential. It is custom 
that determiines the pronunciation of a word, hence custom 
is the essential, and the mark is used simply tO indicate 
what custom has established, but when the learner sees a 
word written, and with certain marks attached to certain 
letters, but does not know what sound the mark gives to 
the letter to which it is attached, he (the learner) can then 
come no nearer giving the pronunciation to the word than 
he could before he saw the word written" with the letters 
thus marked. Hence, the necessity for familiarity with 
diacritical marks. 

Word-building is another means of generalization, a 
kind of association. The student soon acquires a knowl- 
edge of a few root words, a few prefixes, a few suffixes, and 
a few easy rules for the formation of derivative words, and 
in this acquires the key and access to extensive lists of 
words. 

Word-building not only enlarges the pupil's vocabu- 



114 THE IMISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

lary, and at the same time gives practice in spelling cer- 
tain classes of words, but it furnishes also a field for 
thought, invention, word-forms, analysis and synthesis. 
For examples and suggestive forms of word-building, see 
pages 86 to 96; also pages 123, 124, 135, etc., of the Pro- 
gressive Speller. For word-building, the material should 
be supplied and methods suggested, but the constructive 
work should be done by the student. 

This brings this phase of spelling up to the laboratory 
plan, and by it more faculties than memor}' are brought in- 
to play, for while the subject-matter is presented in system- 
atic and classified form, the learner must draw upon and 
apply previously acquired knowledge and principles and 
thus spelling, at least the word building phase of it, is 
largely converted into a thcught- and form-study. 

* 

The first essential in the teaching of spelling, as in 
the teaching of every other subject, is that the teacher be 
endowed with a real interest and enthusiasm for the work. 
The teacher's interest and enthusiasm is contagious and 
will soon take hold of the class. 

In addition to this, the teacher should of course have 
a wider range of the subject than can be given in any one 
text-book, should be a student of words, should not be 
disappointed or discouraged if the progress of the class 
should seem low. 

Lessons should not be too lengthy, neither should 
they be too short. The work should neither be all written 
nor all oral, but the two forms should be duly combined or 
used to suit conditions. 



READING. 115 

The teacher should make, or should cause to be made, 
lists of words that have been incorrectly spelled in the 
written spelling, and, in fact, in all written work, and 
these lists should be placed on the blackboard to form 
lessons for special study once a week, or as often as may be 
necessary. The meaning and application of words should 
be taught, in so far as may be, along with the spelling, so 
that the law of association may have full play. 

In short, spelling should be largely a work with words, 
a study of their forms and their application, and as the 
author of the speller recently adopted, says in his preface: 
"The teacher's duty does not end with giving out the words; 
the student can do more than memorize perplexing combi- 
nations of letters; teacher and pupil can join in a most 
delightful employment, the study of the spelling of words 
and of the ideas they represent; expressing new thoughts 
by varying the relations of the component parts, and con- 
verting the often tedious hour of the spelling class into a 
pleasant ramble in the fields and by-ways of our language. " 



n6 THE MISSOURI SUPERVIbOR. 



CHAPTER II. 



ARITHMETIC, 



INTRODUCTION. 
Experienced teachers agree with Dr. Harris that no 
subject taught in the elementary school taxes the teacher's 
resources as to methods and devices to a greater extent 
than Arithmetic and that none is more dcngf rous to the 
pupil in the way of deadening his mind and arresting its 
development, if bad methods are used. The importance 
of good methods, therefore, can scarcely be over-estimated. 
There is a growing feeling of dissatisfaction with the 
results of our mathematical teaching. This impatience is 
not without justification, and the unsatisfactory results 
obtained are due, in part at least, to the methods employed. 
On the other hand, there are many who believe that the study 
of mathematics — whether of Arithmetic in the common 
school or of Calculus in the university — does not yield 1>1 of 
the beneficent results sometimes claimed for it. It is pos- 
sible to "go to seed on mathematics." This not 

Too much . , , . , 

of a Good mfrequently happens and not alone to those 

Thing. 

country boys, who in their desire for "practical" 
arithmetic refuse to study almost everything else. What- 



ARITHMETIC. 117 

ever may be the final decision of the educational experts 
as to the prominence of the mathematical element in a 
model course of stud}', it will not be questioned that in 
many of the rural schools of our state this factor is receiv- 
ing undue attention. What shall it profit a boy if he gain 
the ability to solve every problem in the classic "third 
part" and lose the lessons of History, Literature and 
Science? Or what shall he give in exchange for the ability 
to speak or write correctly an English sentence? It is not 
that he should love Arithmetic less but that he should love 
other things more? 

Before taking up the matter of method in its applica- 
tion to the various divisions of the subject of Arithmetic, 
certain general principles, which will be kept constantly 
in mind by the writers, and should be as constantly regard- 
ed by the teacher, are set forth. 

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF ARITHMETICAL TEACHING. 

I. First Teaching should be Concrete: — The child's 
first ideas of numbers are obtained through objects and can 
be obtained in no other way. True he may learn 
the language of numbers without the objective 
basis, but that language will be content — less concrete 

' ° ° Work. 

until by the use of objects he puts a meaning 

into these empty forms. Better far is it to follow nature's 

way, which is to teach through contact with things. 

Gradually, however, the pupil must pass from the 
concrete things to the abstract relations. From one apple, 
one book, etc., he must rise to the abstraction one and 
similarly with two, three, etc., with the ten or the hundred. 



liS THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

with period, multiple, denominator, ratio, and, in fact, 
\yith the whole circle of arithmetical terms. He begins 
with crawling on all fours, but he must learn to walk. 

2. P7-ocesscs Should Precede Rules: — This is but an 
extension of the preceding principle. If the idea for 
which a term stands should precede the term itself, 

is but logical to say that the idea of a process 
should precede its description in the form of a rule. 
Painfully vivid in many a memory are the recollections of 
rules that "must be learned" before eyen the simplest 
problem was given. It is a valuable exercise to write 
one's own rules from one's knowledge of how a certain pro- 
cess is carried on. 

3. Principles Outweigh Rules: — The pupil who has 
realized the force of dividing the terms of a fraction by the 
same divisor will not halt long at reduction of fractions to 
Icwest terms. After he has mastered the cube, he will be 
troub'ed little with bins, wood-piles, wagon-beds, and stone 
walls. Possessed of the fundamentals of percentage, , . 
its applications are easy. Memorized rules are the husks 
of Arithmetic. He has wandered far from the home of 
good teaching who would fill his pupils with such food. 

4. Arithmetic Should be Made to Fit into the Home-life 
and the School-life of Pupils : — This means that the bins and 
feed-lots and stores, and the lessons in history and Geog- 
raphy, Literature and Science should be allowed to contrib- 
ute material for arithmetical work. Pupils will not only 
solve such i:)roblems willingly but will delight in devising 
problems from the same sources. 

5. Learning by Doing is the True Way: — Squeers's 



ARITHMETIC. 119 

sending Nicholas to "do" horse after "learning" horse 
was pedagogical as well as economical. The boy who has 
curried a horse knows a horse as he could never know from 
books alone. "Horse" seems to get into his nervous and 
mental mechanism in a most enduring and satisfactory 
way. So it is with the bin or yard one measures, with the 
weights or measures he handles, with the figures he con- 
structs, with the checks or notes that he writes. The 
products of his own powers are more real to him than 
those about which he reads or hears or even those which 
he merely sees. That number work which is coupled with 
some constructive activity possesses most vitality and 
interest and effectiveness. 

6. Habits of Order, Neatness, and Accuracy Result 
from Proper Mathematical Training: — Youth is the plastic 
period of life. Every repeated act tends to becomes ha- 
bitual — as true of the bad as of the good. "Sow acts and 
you reap habits." Carelessness, slovenliness,- inaccuracy- 
order, neatness, accuracy — which shall it be? The harvest 
must be as the sowing. This group of undesirable habits, 
characteristic of so many of our advanced students, can be 
traced at least as far back as the elementary school. True, 
the origin may be in the home, but the teachers (and none 
more so than the teachers of mathematics) are responsible 
for the permanency of those habits. 

If a boy cannot be led to see a difference between 
good form and chaos and to show by his work that 
he does see it, he will, when he reaches manhood, rarely 
drive a straight corn-row, mow the weeds xhe 
along his hedge-ways, house his self-binder, or HaWt. j. 



120 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

write a letter that any one save an expert can decipher. 
Let his occupation in life be what it may, the results of 
early mistraining will cling to him, to his hurt. 

7. The Purposes of Arithjnetical Study are Various: — 
(i) Arithmetic has a practical value to which reference 
has been made. A knowledge of Arithmetic is necessary 
to the successful management of a household, a farm, a 
store, a shop, or an office; and a mastery of the general 
principles of Arithmetic sufficient for the solution of such 
problems as are likely to arise in any of these places, 
should be given to every normal boy and girl. (2) Arith- 
metic has a disciplinary value, not only in the formation of 
habits but also in the development of mental power — "the 
power to put two and two together." (3) Arithmetic has 
a preparatory value. It is the basis, under our present 
arrangement of courses, for all subsequent work in math- 
matics and much work in the natural sciences. The 
necessity for clear concepts and right habits of thought is, 
therefore, apparent. 

PRIMARY NUMBER WORK. 

Reference to the Course of Study, (p. 17), wilb'show 
that the first year's number work is with numbers from one 
to ten. It includes the following: 

I. Meaning of each of these ten numbers and 
First Year's {he Written and oral expression for each; the 

Wcrk. ^ ' 

latter in three forms — verbal, Arabic and Roman. 

2. All additions of integers of which the sums are 
below II. 

3. All subtractions of integers in which the minuend 
is less than 11. 



ARITHMETIC. 121 

4. All iriultiplications of integral factors in which the 
products are less than 11. 

5. Division of each number below 11 by all integers 
not larger than itself. 

6. Some work with the half, third, fourth, fifth and 
multiples of these fractions. 

7. Denominate units whose equivalents can be ex- 
pressed in numbers less than 11. 

8. The signs +> — > X, -^, and =■=. 

g. Concrete problems almost without number, to im- 
press and apply the foregoing. 

The materials needed for doing this work well are as 
follows: 

1. A box of wooden tooth-picks — for 

Materials for 

splmts — and a few rubber bands. primary 

Number Work. 

2. A pint cup, quart cup, gill, gallon, and 
bushel measures. 

3. A pair of scales. 

4. Foot-rules and yard-sticks. 

5. One-cent, five-cent, and dime pieces. 

6. A large quantity of shelled corn, some acorns, 
beans, buttons, etc. 

7. Apples and potatoes, for fractions. 

S. Hewett's Manual of Primary Arithmetic. 

g. A numeral frame. 
10. A set of number cubes. 

The tooth-picks will cost five cents, the bands two; 
the measures can be borrowed; the scales can be manu- ' 
factured by an ingenious boy; the rules and yard-sticks can 
be secured free from advertisers; the coins can be saved 



122 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

from last pay-day; the pupils will contr-' -ite each an ear 
of corn or an occasional apple or potato; 
Cost. the Manual is listed at 27 cents, the numeral 

frame can be obtained for 90 cents, and the 
cubes cost 50 cents per hundred. Thus the entire expense 
is small, and even one or both of the last two articles men- 
tioned may be omitted, though at a certain loss. For 
teaching the various combinations and separations of 
numbers there is nothing to equal the cubes; for dry 
measure nothing surpasses shelled corn, and for frac- 
tional divisions the apple is unrivaled. For rapid work in 
addition and subtraction the numeral frame is excellent. 
It is hoped that no teacher will under estimate 

Importance of 

Objective the importance of these objective aids. Chil- 

Vv'ork. ■' 

dren can be taught to "count" without them, 
and so can a parrot with equal mental gain. By all means 
should the various operations of this year's number work 
be largely concrete. 

As a guide for the teacher, our State Text-Book Com- 
mission recommends Ilevvett's Primary Arithmetic. The 
work of the first year is therein well presented, and every 

teacher of primary Arithmetic needs the book. 
Manual" ^^^ ^^^^ 7^ pages of this manual should be 

covered during the first nine months of school 
life; but inasmuch as the pupils cannot read, the book is 
for the teacher only. These recommendations must 
not be construed as an unqualified endorsement of the 
work. There are very few works on the subject of methods 
(or any other) that the thoughtful teacher will endorse 
throughout. In fact the more thouiihtful and self-reliant a 



ARITHMETIC. 123 

teacher is the less likely is he to follow any book without 
question. No author of a treatise on methods expects or 
desires more of his book than that it should be suggestive 
to progressive teachers. It is in this light that Hewett's 
book should be considered. Certain changes are suggested 
in the belief that they supply deficiencies or remedy defects. 
The changes proposed are the following: 

1. Teaching of each new fraction by dividing a unit 
— a thing Hewett expressly forbids. But notwithstanding 
the weight of his authority, we are constrained 

1 r • ■ 1, /- Changes 

to assert that tractions are "broken units first Recom- 

mended. 

and "relative units" afterward. Without 

instruction the child will no more answer the question, 
"One is what part of two?" than he would, "One is what 
power of two?" Our suggestion is that a unit — an apple — 
be cut into two like parts and the "one-half" and "two 
halves" taught; that two units be cut into halves and the 
fact discovered that one-half of the two together make a 
one; that a half of four ones is the same as two, etc. Pro- 
ceed similarly with the thirds — one, two and three — with 
the fourths, and fifths. Other fractions may be deferred 
until the next year. 

2. Early in the work, e. g. , in connection with six, 
teach the sign (x) and its meaning, tabulate the multiplica- 
tions already studied, and add to these tables new products 
as learned. At the end of the year the blackboard should 
contain the following summary: 



124 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

1x1=1 lx2==2 1x3=3 1x4=4 1x5=5 

2x1=2 2x2=4 2x3=6 2x4=8 2x5=10 

3x1=3 3x2=6 3x3=9 

etc.. 4x2 = 8 

10x1=10 5x2=10 

3. The sign (-^), "divided by," in such expressions 
8-^2=4, should be interpreted as meaning "how many 
2's in 8?" should be introduced toward the end of the year, 
and may be used in the construction of tables like these: 



1-^1=1 


2-f-2=l 


3h-3 = 1 


4-^4=l 


5^5 = 1 


2-f-l=2 


4--2=2 


6--3=2 


8--4=2 


10-^5=2 


etc.. 


etc., 


9-3=3 







10-^l=10 10-^2 = 5 

The pupils may also be taught to measure even where 
there are remainders, as 8 equals 2 threes with 2 remaining, 
9 equals 2 fours with i remaining, etc. 

4. The Roman notation for these ten numbers 
should be taught near the end of the year. 

5. The zero (0) should follow the introduction of 
the minus sign for use in such expressions as 5 — 5=0, 
3 — 3 = 0, etc. 

6. As the several numbers are studied, their use in 
the various denominate scales should be set forth. Thus 
in the study of "two," the child is taught that two pints 
are the same as one quart. The "pint" is presented to 
him concretely, and he measures the pint cup into the 
quart. So in connection with the three he learns 3 feet 
equal i yard; with the four that 4 gills equal i pint and 4 



ARITHMETIC. 125 

pecks equal i bushel; that 5 cents equal i "nickel;" 7 days 
equal i week; 8 quarts equal one peck; 10 cents equal i 
dime and 10 dimes equal 1 dollar. After considerable ma- 
terial of this kind has been gathered, the pupil, for "busy 
work," may fill out some such schedule as this: 

( ) gills = I pint. ( ) pints = i quart. 

( ) pints = quart. or ( ) quarts = i peck. 

( ) quarts = gallon. ( ) pecks = i bushel. 

The second year's work, in the main, is similar to the 
first. The pupil deals with larger integers and smaller parts, 
but his increase in mathematical stature permits it. The 
numbers to 20 are studied, the year's work be- 

. , . r , - , Second 

gmnmg with a review 01 the nrst ten numbers. Years 

Work. 

In this review it is desirable to introduce some 
new features, and this affords an opportunity for the study 
of the sixths, sevenths, eighths, ninths and tenths of the 
unit and of the corresponding integers. Should a short 
school year force the ninth month's work toward the mid- 
dle of the second year, there should still be a review when 
"ten" is reached. With the numbers above ten, the cor- 
responding fractional parts should be presented. Counting 
by 2's, 3's, 4's, etc., and the extension of the multiplication 
and division tables and the inexact divisions are important 
matters. 

Some new denominate units and scales are to be 
added, as follows: 

12 inches equal i foot. 

12 months equal i year. 

16 ounces equal i pound. 



126 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

There should be much concrete work with "these new 
and the old units, using both multiples and parts. Halves, 
thirds, fourths, sixths, eighths and tenths should receive 
much attention. Lengths, heights, widths, distances 

should be measured in appropriate units, and, wherever 
possible, should be converted from one to the other. Prac- 
tice drawing lines one foot, one-half foot, one-fourth foot 
long, or putting dots certain distances apart, then measure 
to test accuracy of work. Estimate lengths of 

To Train , . , . i i i i i 

the objects by movmg the hand along them, eyes 

Judgment. 

closed. Estimate heights of pupils, ceilings 
and other objects. Select the longer or shorter of two 
lines, the larger of two similar and nearly equal surfaces, 
the heavier of two objects, etc. Construct squares upon 
given lines, then measure. From a miscellaneous assort- 
ment of sticks or lines select all beyond, less than, or 
equal to a certain stick or line. Select the six-inch line, 
the ten-inch stick, etc. Cut (from paper) or draw six- 
inch, two-inch, three-inch squares. Practice cutting 
lines and rectangles into halves, thirds and fourths. 
Estimate contents and weights. Estimate the number 
of dots, grains, etc., in an irregular group. Test 
the accuracy of every estimate by exact measurement, 
weight or count. The value of these exercises is great. 
Speer's Arithmetic, Part I., is full of just such work. In 
the work with denominate numbers, the aim should be to 
have each unit clearly defined in the learner's mind. 
"Yard," "pound," "pint," etc., should mean something 
definite to him. 

After passing ten and getting a fair start toward twen- 



ARITHMETIC. "7 

ty, the pupils will delight in running ahead of the wagon, 
and many a time the teacher, who is busy with some 
number will be approached with, "I know what 
the next number is." It requires only ordinary From lo to 20. 

^ - J and to 99. • 

ability to grasp the principle involved and to 
make up the new numbers ahead of the class-work. The 
development of the new numbers is an easy task. Like- 
wise, when 20 is reached, a few minutes will suffice to start 
the pupil equipped with splints on his way toward 30. 
After seeing that two "tens" and one are 21 and that 22 
and 23 are similiarly made up, he will himself write and 
name the others. So, also, when he has passed 30, he 
will go on to 40 and to 50, 60, 80, gg. (See Hewett, pp. 
124-132, for suggestions.) 

One method of presenting the hundred, 10 tens, is 
shown on pp. 132-3 (Hewett.) Having seen one "hun- 
dred" in the large bundle and comprehended its writing, 
the pupil will have no difficulty with two "hundreds," 
three, four, and so on to nii.e. Then going back to 100, 

show and write 101, 102, , no, iii, 112, , 

120, 121, , 130, 131, , 140, , 150, 

etc. With this start, nothing more than an occasional 
question or suggestion will be necessary to enable the 
pupil to write the numbers to ggg as "busy work." 

As an aid to the understanding of the numbering of 
reading lessons the Roman notation to one hundred may 
be taught without a systematic attempt to master the 
principles. 

During the first half of the third year (i8th to 22nd 
month) the reading and wriiing of numbers to four places. 



128 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

gggg, will give employment for seat work. This can be 

done without the splints. There should also 

Year— be as mucli addition and subtraction by 2's, '^'s. 

First half. 

g's, as time will permit. This will serve 

as a basis for the multiplication and division tables, which 
should be carried to 10 tens and preferably to 12 twelves. 
The study of individual numbers from 20 to 30, and 
of such useful numbers as 36, 48, and 60, may be 
continued after the plans of the preceding years. Pupils 
now have strength to undertake more difficult types of 
fractional, work and such work as finding ^-, |^, |^, 4, ^, of 
13, 17, 23, etc., is possible. The schools of Kansas City 
show magnificent results with even younger pupils and 
more difficult work. 

WRITTEN ARITHMETIC MILNE'S FIRST BOOK. 

By the middle of the third year the pupil will be able 
to use the elementary text. The matter of the first 77 
pages will have been canvassed so thoroughly that the 
work may begin with page 78. The alert 
?|*i'"^'s . „ teacher will have drawn from these 77 pages 
many valuable exercises and suggestions. Now, 
the pupil passes from "number work"to"arithmetic." Pen- 
cil and tablet are much more in demand. Numbers entirely 
too large for oral manipulation are to be operated with; 
numbers so great that he has at best only a vague and 
general notion of them. New methods come in also, and 
these must be mastered. Thus the learner has really 
reached a new epoch in his educational career. 

No difficulty will be experienced in extending the 



■ ARITHMETIC. 129 

principles of numeration and notation to numbers of more 
than four places. In those schools in which the pupils 
have not been taught as the preceding pages 

. Notation 

have sugsfested, it may be necessary to establish and 

^° Numeration. 

these principles concretely. If so, let the splint 
bundles be produced and the basis laid for a comprehen- 
sion of our system of notation, and the ordinary child will 
not comprehend it satisfactorily unless it is presented con- 
cretely. But splints and objective aids should be used 
only as long as they aid. Used too long they weaken, but 
let them be kept on hand to be used in case of emergen- 
cies. Gauge the pupil's power, and then exercise it just 
so far as to develop it by requiring its best efforts. Keep 
him engaged with small numbers until he is ready for 
large ones. 

Here, as elsewhere, Milne's book is rich in exercises. 
Use them with discrimination. Use such as suit the case 
in hand, and as many as are necessary to accomplish the 
desired purpose well. If more are necessary, draw upon 
some other text, but select judiciously. Avoid the wasting 
of the pupil's energy upon ambiguous or obscure problems. 

It may not be amiss to say a few words on the subject 
of expression. The cardinal virtues of mathematical 
expression, are clearness, conciseness, accuracy and good 
form. Ambiguity, wordiness, inaccuracy and 
carelessness in both oral and written expression Kxpressiou. 
are to be avoided. Every word or character 
used should have an unmistakable meaning and a specific 
purpose, and every unnecessary element should be omitted. 
Attention to these points will secure a discriminative use 



J30 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

of the "and" where necessary and its complete omission in 
the reading of whole numbers, where its use is unnecessary, 
will provide the hyphen in such expressions as "forty-six," 
and "ten-thousandths," will require that "is" and "are" be 
properly used and that the cipher be called naught or zero, 
but never "aught." These are merely suggestive and are 
typical of those "little things" by which scholarship is 
identified. 

When the "operations" of Arithmetic are taken up, in 
addition to the qualities already mentioned, rapidity be- 
comes a desirable aim. Ultimately the fundamental 
operations within the range of simple numbers 
Tiie should become almost automatic. Such com- 

Aiin. 

binations as g-\-6, 15—9, gx6, 54-^9, etc., 
should require no more thought than is required to recog- 
nize the word "cat" when seen. The recognition of the 
power of the combination of either the letters or the 
figures should be quicker than thought. Strive for rapidity 
of work. Encourage pupils to work rapidly. Compel them 
to do so. Time the pupil, then encourage him to do the 
work in less time. Stimulate in him a desire to surpass 
his former records. Endeavor to carry into the Arithmetic 
class some of the spirit of bicycling and foot-ball. 

Throughout the study of Arithmetic it will be neces- 
sary to solve problems dealing with abstract numbers only, 
but the preference should be given to those involving con- 
crete relations. The mechanical element will be the same 
in the two, but the first is only mechanical. The latter 
involves thought. Thus the mechanical work is the same 
whether the problem reads "Multiply 26 by 40," or "Find 



ARITHMETIC. 131 

the cost of 40 acres of land at $26 an acre," but the former 
is almost devoid of mental discipline, and hence 

1 r 11 Til Concrete 

the preference expressed above. In the solu- Problems and 

Analysis. 

tion of these concrete problems there will be an 
explanatory analysis, but care must be taken that this 
analysis does not become a meaningless or mechanical 
form. "Mere words" are to be avoided. 

The exercises in articles 67, 73, 81, 96, 118, 150, etc., 
are typical of our author's method of introducing new 
topics. This line of work is one of the most valuable and 
suggestive features of Milne's books and illus- 
trates what is commonly called "inductive ^fP'l'd'^'^i'^^ 

•^ Method. 

teaching." Invariably based upon what the 
pupil is reasonabl}^ expected to know, these exercises are 
so well chosen that they lead the learner step by step, "from 
the known to the unknown," from his former acquisitions 
to a new definition, principle or process. The contrast 
between such a method and that of plunging at once into 
definitions and rules is truly great. The teacher will cer- 
tainly not fail to utilize these exceedingly valuable prelim- 
inary suggestions in introducing new topics. If this 
method is not a familiar one, it will pay to investigate and 
use it. 

The amount of drill work like that given on page 104 
(Milne) must be governed by the needs of the pupils. To 
drill on what pupils have mastered is to waste valuable 
time and energy. But there is not much danger that 
pupils will know these elementary combinations 
too well. Through class-drills, busy-work, and 2^"'!: 
the like, the deficiencies of earlier training are 



132 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

to be supplied. This applies to addition, subtraction 
and multiplication with equal force. Before the pupil is 
allowed to begin serious work with the pencil, the work 
with .simple numbers should have reached the automatic 
stage. There is in mathematical work a process analagous 
to that of stopping to spell out words in reading. The two 
are alike despicable. 

The teacher will observe how articles 89-92 prepare 

the way for article 93. The "first process" of page 11 1 

should be repeated with other numbers until comprehended, 

then the pupil is ready for the "second process," 

MuUipii- which is only a shorter form from which the 

cation. -' 

unnecessary elements have been omitted. A 
comparison will show the essential unity of the two as well 
as the advantages of the second. In general it may be 
said that "short cuts" should follow general solutions. 
The relations of the two should be shown by solving a 
problem, first by the general method, then by the short 
form, and then comparing the two. 

An apparent exception — and it is only apparent — to 
this principle appears in division. Nearly all books pre- 
sent "short" before "long" division. If the two were 

methods intended for the same problems, the 

Division— . , i , , ■, 

Long and poiuts Urged by some that the long method 

Short. 

logically precedes the short would be well 
taken. But inasmuch as long division is used for one 
class of problems i:and short division for another, 
the order of the two is to be determined not upon 
some fancied relation of the terms long and short 
but upon the real relations of the two classes of numbers. 



ARITHMETIC. 133 

The pupil who has comprehended the "carrying" in simple 
addition can use short division with any divisor for which 
he knows the corresponding multiplication table. It is 
not with short division that pupils have trouble, but nine 
out of every ten teachers will tell of the terrors of long 
division. The remedy is not to be sought in reversing 
the order of the two, but in a more logical presentation of 
the more difficult of the two. If the following 
steps be taken in order, it is believed that much a Remedy, 
of the difficulty attending this subject will 
vanish: 

1. Solution of two or three problems properly be- 
longing to the short division class, writing the work out in 
full (i. e. — by long division.) 

2. Solution of many problems with 10, 11, 12, etc., 
as divisors, gradually increasing to larger ones. 

3. Divisions with divisors less than 100 until the 
principles and methods are mastered, before trying the 
larger divisors. 

Without one word about "abstract" and "concrete" 
numbers it will be possible to secure a recognition of both in 
the work of multiplication and division. Insist upon analy- 
ses that viean somepiing and the recognition can be secured. 
"If one orange costs 2C, 36 oranges cost 36 times 2c," never 
"2 times 36 which is 72c" as too many teachers permit it to 
be said. "If one orange costs 2c, 72c will buy as many 
oranges as 2c are contained times in 72c, which 

r ■ rr-ii r -ii r ^ Concrete and 

IS 30 times. 1 heretore 72c will pay for 36 Abstract 

Numbers. 

oranges at 2c each." Again, "If 72c is the 

cost of 36 oranges, each orange cost ^ of 72c, which is 2c." 



134 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

All of the work implied in this paragraph is possible with 
third grade pupils, because accomplishment isi^the best 
proof of possibility. 

Article 128 would make an excellent assignment for 
"to-morrow's lesson." Let a fcvv of the lists be placed 
upon the board just before recitation time, then after com- 
parison and corrections, the tests of article 129 can be 
deduced. The pupil should be drilled until he can readily 
name all the factors of numbers below 150, and can quickly 
apply the tests of divisibility to any number. Thus when 
he sees 120 he ought to be able to think 10 X i2=r(2 X5) X 

(2X2X3) 

The fractional idea will not be new to the pupil when 
he reaches page 145. With his previous training he will 
have no difficulty with pp. 145-g, and after these experiences, 
he will have no trouble with "numerator," "denominator," 

"mixed number," etc. So far as the pupil has 
Fractions. dealt with fractjons prior to this time, it has 

been in finding parts of integers, e. g. — in find- 
ing ^, |, f, of 6 cubes, 7 cubes, etc. Now he begins 
work in changing, combining and separating fractions. 
The fraction becomes of itself a concrete number, — five- 
eighths mean five units of a certain kind (eighths), and 
seven eighths mean.seven of the same kind. Eighths is here 
the "fractional unit," and while new eighth it selfsignifies 
the division of the unit into equal parts, a new unit is 
formed by this division and this new unit may be increased 
in number or divided into smaller units. It will some- 
times help the pupil to solve such problems as the foliow- 
insf'. 



ARITHMETIC. 135 



7 eighths 


7 eighths 


7 eighths 


3 eighths 


4 eighths 


3 


5 eighths 


— 


— 


— 


3 eighths 


21 eighths 



15 eighths 

■^ of 8 eighths=2 eighths; 8 eighths-^2 eighths=4. 

The pupil will need much oral work with fractions. 
Every type of reduction and each of the "fundamental oper- 
ations" must be impressed through a multiplicity of varied 
exercises. White's book and other texts can be drawn 
upon for material. There is need for much "mental" or 
"oral" Arithmetic. The bane of much of the work of to- 
day is the lead pencil. Encourage the pupil to use his 
mind much, his pencil little. Of these oral problems simple 
analyses should be given. When the problem is solved 
with pencil it may be desirable to change the method of 
solution, but in any case the explanation should accord 
with the solution employed. 

Opinions differ somewhat concerning the treatment of 
the subject of least common denominator. Our author 
must receive credit for his courage in divorcing least com- 
mon multiple from least common denominator. 
It is true that pupils ought to be able to discern ^^^^t common 

■^ '^ ° Denominator. 

by a sort of intuition the L. C. D. when the 
series of denominators involves only small numbers, and to 
this end there should be much drill with a great variety 
of fractions. But there will be many instances 

when "inspection" will not determine the desired 
denominator. What then? Two courses are open. One 



136 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

is to teach that the L. C. D. is always the L. C. M. of the 
denominators and proceed to show a comprehensible 
method of finding this L. C. M. The other is to teach a 
process which no child will comprehend,, and this our 
author does in both his books. Is not the former course 
preferable? L. C. M. is a subject permitting beautiful 
treatment in Arithmetic, and the principles and methods 
should be the same in Algebra. Why not present this 
method when needed? Resolve the numbers into their 
prime factors, and take the product of such factors as are 
necessary to produce a multiple of each of the numbers. 
The arrangement of work in the solution of problems 
is important, but it must not be understood that there is 
but one good way of doing things. For example, the work 

in articles 167 and 170 may be differently ex- 
•'Form." pressed and yet be in good form. But let good 

form of some kind be insisted upon a/ways. 
Make much of the sign of equality, but insist that it be not 
allowed to prevaricate. Observe the accompanying state- 
ment as a magnificent example of "how not to do it:" 

<(Qv2 J6_l_l 1_7 

There lurks in this form of statement a most insidious 
foe to good thinking. Its slimy trail can be traced 
through the entire mathematical work of many a pupil 
and many a school. Watch for it. 

The "three cases" of multiplication and of division lose 
their terrors if each is presented inductively and receives 
sufficient time. Have recourse to the concrete to show the 



ARITHMETIC. 137 

effect of multiplications and divisions. If 

, . , rr 1 • Multiplication 

nothing better oners draw or cut squares into and Division 

of Fractions. 

parts of proper size. Do the thing, then ex- 
press it with symbols. For example, divide a square into 
i6ths; take ^ two times, three times, etc., and then ex- 
press the result as follows: 

2xA=tVJ 3xf^=T9^; 4xA=M. etc. 

Show that the fraction is multiplied by multiplying the 
numerator. Show also that in the problems above i^g^=f, 
.J-|=:|, etc., and hence that dividing the denominator also 
multiplies the fraction. When the pupil realizes that 
\y.\, {\ times 4) can mean only "| of 4," that ^Xf means 
\ of 1^, etc., these "cases" of multiplication become very 
easy. Division of fraction by the integer can be presented 
with the divided square also. Separating 12 sixteenths 
into two, three, four, or six equal groups gives the data for 
suei]t.ei?cgr§ssions as ^1^2=^6^^; \^^^i=z^^, etc. If it be 
noted that dividing by 2 is finding \, by 3 is finding ^, etc., 
these problems may be expressed thus: 

i|-4=i of i|=i^, or ^g-. 

Thus two methods of division are reached. Division 
of integer by fraction should first be expressed thus: 

4-f=¥-f=6 and |-^|=^-^^=|=1|. 

After these are thoroughly mastered show the ''short 
cuts" as follows: 

4-i-J=-2-=6 and \-^\=^^^=^• 



138 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

Complex fractions should be read and interpreted as 
divisions. As such their solution is easy. 

Arts. 191-6 are highly important as a preparation 
for the future. Pupils must be able to determine the rela- 
tion of one integer to another at sight. Thus: 8=^ of 11, 
8 acres =^ of 1 1 acres, and 8 twelfths =^ of 1 1 
who!eT^ twelfths. Drill thoroughly upon the parts of the 
dollar and use these parts in problems (oral). 
In Art. 196 avoid the author's unpardonable sin of saying 
"-|r=32o, 1^64," a thing which is as impossible as 1=2. 
No amount of explanation can justify such statements. 
Say "-§■ of the number=320, -i- of the number^:=64," and 
the like. The baneful effects of these misleading forms are 
known to every thoughtful teacher who has tried to teach 
percentage. 

Decimal fractions should be begun with the writing of 

such fractions as -^, ^^, ^\-o, A' irU' tAx,' ^^^ with a 

review of the Arabic notation, particularly its tenfold ratio 

of increase or decrease through successive 

Decimal orders. If, in such a number as 8888 the value 

Fractions. ' 

of the second "8" from the left is one- tenth 
that of the first, of the third one-tenth that of the second, 
and so on, it needs no great mental effort to extend the 
principle to orders to the right of units. The necessity of 
the decimal point to fix the place of units will be apparent. 
Pupils will recall their former use of the point (pp. 85-6) 
and .will confirm the new principle by observing that in 
such a number as ^3.65 the "6" expresses tenths and 
the "5" hundredths of a dollar, or unit. The identity 
of the common and decimal fractions should be empha- 



ARITHMETIC. 139 

sized through each of the fundarilental operations, and the 
pupil led to see the economy of the decimal system. Show 
that it is a saving to write .4X-i7=-'o68 rather than ^^X - 
yyQ=^6&_; that ;. 4-|-. I7=.57 requires much less' work than 
the addition of the corresponding common fractions, and 
so on. There should be rriuch 'drill on the identity of 
such fractions as .3 and -^^, .03 and yo'o' ^^^ The names 
and values of the first five or six decimal places should be 
so thoroughly learned that recognizing three or four or 
two decimal places, should cause the pupil to think instan- 
taneously thousandths, ten-thousandths, hundredths, etc., 
as the case may be. Drill until pupils can read and write 
decimals rapidly and accurately. The effect of removing 
the decimal point to the right or left should be taught. 
Pupils should be taught to recover from the prevalent mis- 
use of the "and" in the reading of numbers and taught its 
value in the joining of two kinds of numbers. The decimal 
termination "ths" should be used properly. 

The conversion of decimals to common fractions and 
of common fractions to decimals should be mastered, both 
as to process and explanation Drill carefully on the mat- 
ter of article 215. The correct pointing of decimal prod- 
ucts and quotients is important. To this end use articles 
221 and 227 and supplement with similar exercises. The 
pupil must be led to see the rules for himself. 

"Accounts and Bills" can be made more real by 
using the names of home merchants and making the items 
of familiar articles at current prices. • 

If the suggestions of this course have been followed, 
the pupils of the second grade know many of the denomi- 



140 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

nate units. The inch, foot and yard; the ounce and 

pound; the pint, quart, peck, bushel and gal- 

Denominate Ion; all these are known, and, therefore, the 

Numbers. ' 7 j 7 

teacher, at this point, will need only to classify 
and supplement. The child's knowledge of these units 
should be made real. Let him be made familiar with 
them, so that he will know the inch or foot when he sees 
it; the pound when he lifts it, etc. To do this he must 
have actual work with the units in both accurate and ap- 
proximate measurement.. All this, supposedly, has been 
done in the "number work." 

In the reduction and applications of denominate num- 
bers, our author is not his usual careful self. "Business 
methods" ought not to be slip-shod. Let us look at the 
problem in article 260. 

(first solution.) 
1yd. =3 ft. 

7 yds. =7x3 ft. =21 ft. 
21ft.+l ft. =22 ft. 

1ft. =12 in. 
22 ft. =22x12 in. =264 in. 
264 in. +4 in. =268 in. 



ARITHMETIC. 141 



(second solution.) 


7 (yd.) 


1 ft. 4 in. 


3 ft. 




21 ft. 




1 ft. 




22 (ft.) 




12 in. 




264 in. 




4 in. 





268 in. 

To the first and the preferable solution there can be but 
one possible objection — its length. The second endeavors 
to obviate this objection by an artificial device (the paren- 
theses to indicate the numbers which become abstract mul- 
tipliers). The explanations to the two solutions are alike, 
word for word, and are identical with the author's. The 
work is better than his. 

When we reach reduction to higher denominations It 
ought to be remembered that the divisors are concrete, the 
quotients abstract. In the measurements of surfaces and 
solids, our author fails to apply what he de- 

1 • • 1 r- r, 1 A 1 Rectatignlar 

velops m articles 268 and 273. A rectangular surfaces 

and Volumes. 

figure one inch long and one inch wide is a 
square inch. A rectangle 6. in. long and one in. wide con- 
tains 6 X I sq. in. A rectangle 6 in. long and 2 in. wide con- 
tains 2 times 6 sq. in. Hence for practical work we may 
write only: 2x6 sq. in. = 12 sq. in., supplying the rest 
orally. For problem one, article 271, we would write: 



142 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

22x5^ sq. ft. =121 sq. ft.; or 
5|X22 sq. ft. = 121 sq. ft. 

Similarly, for article 276, we would write,8 X 5^X 3-| cu. 
ft. =147 cu. ft.: or we may use the form below: 



3| cu. ft. 



28 cu. ft. 
5V 



147 cu. ft. 

Both of these fit the author's explanation. In the 
measurement of both surfaces and solids, pupils will de- 
light in making and solving original problems from actual 
measurements. Let them measure real floors, walls, 
ceilings, yards, boxes, bins, cellars, wood-piles, wagons, 
cribs, hay-mows, etc., make and solve their own problems, 
and exchange with other pupils. 

ADVANCED ARITHMETIC^MILNE'S SECOND BOOK. 

Milne's "Standard" Arithmetic will be introduced 

about the fortieth month. In the first 200 pages there is 

little that is new except the problems. These deal with 

larger numbers and are to that extent more dif- 

^iJ°^'f j„ ficult, but the principles remain the same. 

"Standard." ' ^ ^ 

This is the time for mastery of principles and 
mechanical processes. The pupil who has studied the 
"Elements" carefully will have little trouble now aside 
from an occasional "hard knot" that has been allowed 



THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 143 

to get ill among the "review exercises." Those who have 
not studied the earlier work may be deficient in both knowl- 
edge of the principles and skill in their application. To 
such, the introductory oral exercises, the explanations, 
and the principles will be new, and the teacher must use 
them here as he does the corresponding material in the 
"Elements" for younger pupils. It will be necessary, 
therefore, in taking up each new topic — whether simple 
addition, factoring, multiplication of decimals, or any other 
topic — to ascertain just what each pupil knows of both 
principles and processes and to begin with the known in pre- 
senting the unknown. This applies to pupils wlio have stud- 
ied the "Elements" as well as to those who have not. The 
first 200 pages of the "Standard" ought to give the pupil a 
mathematical polish, so to speak. Inaccuracies in operation, 
crudeness of expression, both oral and written, looseness 
and disjointedness of thought, bungling methods, slowness 
in work — all should disappear, leaving the corresponding 
virtues in their stead. Cultivate rapidity in the mechanic- 
al processes, but never at the cost of neatness. Encour- 
age "mental" work and "short cuts." Draw on White's 
book and the "Elements" for oral exercises. Many prob- 
lems formerly requiring pencil can now be solyed without 
it. Practice the addition of two or three columns (White, 
p. 49), and the "short cuts" in multiplication and division 
(White, pp. 51-4; Milne, pp. 161-2). Place upon the 
board an addition problem of twenty numbers of twenty 
figures each. Challenge the whole class or school to add 
correctly. Change a few figures and renew the challenge 
with a time limit of so many minutes. Challenge the 



144 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

school to ascertain the continued products of the numbers 
from one to twenty-six. 

There should be much rapid work with common frac- 
tions — changing to lower terms, to mixed numbers, to 
decimals, naming the least common denominator — and 

with decimals, both pure and mixed in convert- 
Some . . T-. -11 1 • 

Important ing to common fractions. Drill also in express- 
Matters. 

ing various fractions in hundreths. Thus: .625 

=62|, .3475=341' -333 3-=- 33^-. -J^-jo. The problems on 
pp. 128-g should receive careful attention as preparatory 
for work in percentage. The aliquot and other much- 
used parts of the hundred should receive special attention. 
The problems on p. 163 are valuable and should be sup- 
plemented by similar ones on the buying and selling of 
live stock, the market reports in some daily paper furnish- 
ing ample material. 

The work with fractional denominate numbers is 
largely new, but the principles are not. Such numbers 
should be treated as nearly as possible as integral 
numbers would be treated in the same problem. Empha- 
size the comparisons on p. 185. Teach the "business 
year" and decimals thereof. The value of the bushel in 
pounds and in inches should be studied 
Practical ^ud applied to wagons, cars, cribs and 

Problems. ^ '^^ o ' ' 

bins. The "Mo." column, p. 423, will furnish 
the equivalents in pounds. It must be remembered, how- 
ever, that corn "in the ear" requires 70 lbs. of weight or 
about 3850 cu. in. of contents to constitute a bushel, and 
that 56 lbs. of shelled corn and 32 of oats constitute the 
bushel in Missouri. 



, ARITHMETIC. 14S 

For reasons satisfactory to himself, presumably, the 
author has stowed the metric system safely away in a quiet 
corner where many a pupil and many a teacher will have 
ample reason for overlooking it. The supe- 
riority of the metric system over our present f^g^^^'^"'^ 
systemless system is so great, its value in scien- 
tific work so apparent, that it is time for teachers to believe 
and to teach that it will be but a few years until all civil- 
ized nations will be using it. The men and women of 
twenty years hence will be buying and selling by the 
metric system. The teachers of to-day ought to be teach- 
ing it. No teacher of Arithmetic who passes this subject 
by unnoticed is doing his whole duty. 

In presenting the metric system to a class, let the basal 
nature of the meter be emphasized. Get some pupil to 
manufacture a meter-stick. Divide one side into deci- 
meters and paihl tlie alternate divisions. Divide another 
side into centimeters and paint alternate sections. Require 
pupils to make similar sticks and to use them in making 
numerous measurements. Use the results of the measure- 
ments in practical problems relating to lengths, distances, 
etc. Emphasize the Km., M., dm., and cm., and the con- 
version from one to each of the others. Drill upon the 
prefixes and their meanings and upon the conversion of 
common to metric units and the reverse, both accurately 
and approximately. After the length measures are mas- 
tered, apply them to surfaces and solids and drill as be- 
fore. Go slowly and work thoroughly. For capacity 
measures, construct a wooden or tin measure one decimeter 
in each dimension. This is the cubic decimeter or liter. 



146 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

Require the pupil to estimate contents in the appropriate 
metric unit and to test by measurement. When weight 
units are taken up do the same with them. Manufacture 
metric substitutes for the ordinary scale weights and use 
the new in weighing. Actual contact and use are neces- 
sary to the actualization of this knowledge. 

The subject of longitude and time is so much dreaded 
that the teacher's part in an actual problem in a lesson 
is indicated in the following questions and directions. The 
lesson may be suggestive, but of course no teacher will 
copy it verbatim. Pupils' answers are omitted. 

Point toward the sun. Toward where it will be at 

noon. Will it move from one place to another? Why 

does it seem to move? Is it visible at all times? Why 

not? What is the shape of the earth? What 

A Lesson iu . . 

Longitude Will represent it.'^ Lome to the globe and show 

and Time, 

why the sun is not alwaj's visible. What do 
we call the time when the sun first appears? Show why 
it seems to rise? How often does it rise? Why? Locate 
our home on the globe. Represent sunrise at our 
home. Locate Denver. Can 3'our friends in Denver 
see sunrise when we do? Why not? Locate Wash- 
ington City. Can the President see the sun when it 
is sunrise here? Why? In which direction is Washing- 
ton from us? Locate some other place east of us. Can 
the people there see the sun at our sunrise? In which 
direction is Denver? Name another place west. Can its 
people see the sun at our sunrise? Name some place east 
of Washington. Where does the sun appear to them 
when the sun is just rising at Washington? 



ARITHMETIC. 147 

"Why? Then what is true of the eastern of any two 
places? And if the sun seems higher, what is true of the 
time? Then what is true of the time of the western of two 
places? Name some places that have earlier time than we. 
Later. Earlier time than New York has. Later. San 
Francisco. When it is noon here, what is true of the time 
at Philadelphia? At Honolulu? At sunrise here, what 
are people probably doing in London? In Tokio? 

What time is it now? What is the time at Denver? 
How much earlier? Well, let us try to determine. How 
long from sunrise to sunrise? And during that time what 
has our town done? What has been the shape of its path? 
How many degrees are in that circle? How many hours 
are required to travel it? How many to travel half of it? 
How far do we travel eacK hour.f* In which direction do 
we travel? W^here will we be one hour from now? And 
who will be here in the path where we are now? Find 
some place about 15° west of us. Then how much does 
Denver time differ from ours? Suppose it were 30° west? 
45°? 90°? 35°? 66° east? 72° east? 71°? 5°? i°? 
■J-°? (This is how many ' ?) i'? |'? Then a difference 
of 15° marks what difference in time? A difference of 15' 
of longitude? A difference of 15" of longitude? etc., etc. 
Then if you could compare your watch with that of a per- 
son 15° east of us what would you find? 15° west? 30° 
west? If you were to travel 30° eastward what would be 
necessary? 45° westward? 5° eastward? 15' eastward? 
(Explain that there would be no change necessary to keep 
with the R. R. or "standard" time until the meridian of 
Wheeling, Buffalo, etc., is reached and that the time 



148 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

for the 90th and the 75th meridians, etc., is made to an- 
swer for territory presumably about 7^ degrees on either 
side.) 

Note: — There is but one other important matter to present, 
(aside from the problems) and that belongs to Geography, rather 
than to Arithmetic, yet it will likely have to be taught here. This is 
computing the difference of longitude between two places. This can 
be presented by such questions as the following: 

Name some place east of us. How far? Another. How far is 
it.' Which is the farther? How much? How far apart are they? 
(Same for two other places east. Two west. For one east and 
another west. Same for places east and west of Greenwich.) 

To understand the measurements of plane figures one 
needs only to master the rectangle. All others are to be 
measured by it. Therefore review from the "Elements" 
and drill upon the form of analysis with all sorts 
Plane of practical problems — fields, lots, walls, ceil- 

ings, floors, windows, carpets, walks, etc., from 
the pupil's own ineasurements. If that absurd idea of 
"feet xie,et gives square feet," is in the pupil's mind, get it 
out at any cost. Fight it out on this line if it takes all 
winter. This point gained, advance as follows: 

1. The parallelogram: "A parallelogram 10 ft. wide 
and 46 feet long contains the same area as a rectangle of 
the same dimensions, hence the area equals 10X46 sq. ft., 
or 460 sq. ft. Prove the equivalency of the rectangle and 
other parallelograms by cutting paper forms.) 

2. The triangle: "The area of a triangle is one-half 
that of a rectangle of the same base and altitude, (prove 
this by cutting paper), hence a triangle whose base is 
30 ft. and altitude 12 ft. contains ^ of 12 X30sq. ft. =6x30 
sq. ft., or 180 sq. ft. 



ARITHMETIC. 149 

3. The trapezoid: "The area of a trapezoid is equal 
to that of a rectangle of the same width and whose length 
is equal to the average length of the two sides. Prove as 

above. Hence, if the two sides are 15 and 11 ft, the average 

, ,. 15 ft. +11 ft. , . , . , 

length is =13 It., and the area of the trape- 
zoid equal 10X13 sq. ft., or 130 sq. ft. 

4. The circle: Present a circle and note circumfer- 
ence, diameter and radius. Measure various circles and 
determine relation of circumference and diameter. Thus 
22-4- 7^:3^ = 3. 14+. Note the constancy of this ratio 
and its nearness to 3. 1416. Solve the problems in articles 
258-9. The area of the circle may be determined from at 
least three relations: 

a. To the triangle (see article 259); A = Cx — . 

b. To the rectangle (see Kennedy's Mathematical 
Blocks); A = — xR. 

c. To the square; A = D2x.7S54. 

Of the three, the last is the simplest and the one pre- 
ferred. To present it, require a 6-inch circle to be placed 
upon a 6-inch square and estimate comparative areas. The 
estimate will generally be about | or .75. Give exact pro- 
portion, .7854. In other words, state that the area of every 
circle is .7854 of the corresponding square. This requires 
no more "faith" than the 3. 141598 or 3. 1416. Let the fol- 
lowing serve as a model solution: Find area of a circle 10 
feet in diameter. A lo-foot square contains loxio sq. ft. 
= 100 sq. ft. A lo-foot circle contains .7854 of 100 sq. ft. 
= 78.54 sq. ft. 



156 THE, MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

5. Plastering, papering and paving which are only 
applications of the rectangle with a few added technical 
points explained in the notes. 

6. Regular solids, which are based upon the 
Solids. rectangular volume, e. g. : 

A solid I ft. long, I ft. wide and i ft. high con- 
tains I cu. ft. 

A solid I ft. long, J ft. wide and 4 ft. high contains 
4X1 cu. ft. =4 cu. ft. 

A solid I ft. long, 6 ft. wide and 4 ft. high contains 
6x4 cu. ft. = 24 cu. ft. 

A solid 18 ft. long, 6 ft. wide and 4 ft. high- contains 
18x24 cu. ft. =432 cu. ft. 

These may be condensed into 18x6x4 cu. ft. —432 
cu. ft. If the height, width and contents are given and 
the length is required, the written expression may appear 

5... ' 

thus: , ^ 

6x4 cu. ft. =24 cu. ft. 
432 cu. ft.-^24 cu. ft. =18. 

The cylinder combines the circle and volume, e. g. : 

If the diameter of a circular cistern is 6 ft., the basal 
area = . 7854X36 sq. ft. =28.2744 sq. ft. 

If the cistern is i ft. deep the contents are 28.2744 
cu. ft. 

If the cistern is 8 ft. deep the contents are 8x28.2744 
cu. ft., or 226.1952 cu. ft. 

Percentage can be robbed of half its terrors by the 
right presentation of the topics preceding it. Both common 
and decimals fractions are preparatory to percentage. 



ARITHMETIC. 151 

It is a case of proceeding from the general to 
the special. From the general treatment of Percentage, 
common fractions, the pupil passes to the con- 
sideration of fractional parts of the denominations, tenths, 
hundredths, thousandths, &c. , and when percentage is 
reached the work is further narrowed to decimals of the 
denomination hundredths. In percentage there are three 
problems of which the following are typical: 

1. What is 7 per cent of 800? 

2. s6 is 7 percent of what number? ?fl;''^^ „ 

J / r "Cases." 

3. 56 is what per cent of 800? 

Each of these has its counterpart in both common and 
decimal fractions. In the former they read thus: 

1. What is ^2o °^ ^°°^ 

2. 56 is y-J-Q of what number? 

3. 56 is what part of Soo? 

In decimals they reappear as follows: 

1. What is .07 of 800? 

2. 56 is .07 of what number? 

3. 56 is what decimal of 800? 

By the time the pupil has had a satisfactory drill in 
finding -^^ and .07 of 800 he ought not to be troubled over 
"7 percent of 800." And if he be able to determine the 
number of which 56 is yq-qj or -oj, he ought not to hesitate 
with the problem when it reads "7 per cen,t. " The conti- 
nuity of problem 3, through these three phases of arith- 
metical work is equally apparent. These problems, there- 
fore, suggest the propriety of dwelling long upon these 
particular types of problems in both common and decimal 
fractions and of emphasizing the identity of the percentage 



1.53 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

problems with those of fractions. The drill will fit the 
pupil to perceive the identity. Having grasped this idea, he 
is ready for its application to concrete problems, and there 
is no reason why the foundations for profit and loss, com- 
mission, brokerage, insurance, and the like, should not be 
laid. In other words, while being drilled upon the mechani- 
cal phase of finding 2-1- per cent ot $1200 let him ascertain 
the sum gained at 2^ per cent upon a house costing $1200, 
or his pay if he received 2| per cent of the proceeds for 
selling the house for another, or the cost of insurance at 2^ 
per cent of the value. No pupil need hesitate a moment 
at any of these, and having solved them, when he reaches 
the formal consideration of profit and loss, commission and 
insurance, the difficulties will have been anticipated. 

Pupils must be fortified against the too prevalent idea 
that percentage has to do with money only and that 10 per 
cent means "10 cents on the dollar" necessarily and uni- 
versally. To accomplish this the teacher should give 
many problems in which the "base" bears such names as 
acres, days, bushels, miles, cattle, gallons, etc. 

Preliminary to the work in percentage the pupil should 
receive a thorough drill in the rapid converting of the most 
frequently encountered percentage forms into their fraction- 
al equivalents. Thus i2|^ per cent=^; 6^ per cent=^ig^; 
10 per cent=-jij, etc., and when he encounters these num- 
bers in problems, let him be encouraged to select the best 
possible method of solution. For instance, should he be 
required to find 33^ per cent of 182^, he certainly ought to 
proceed at once to use ^ as the equivalent of 33^ per cent. 

Another current weakness can be obviated by writing 



ARITHMETIC. 153 

in figures such exercises as these: One-fourth of one per 
cent; 25 times one per cent; one-half of one per cent; one 
half of 100 per cent; one-fourth hundredth; 25 hundredths, 
etc. 

Very little should be said about "cases" and formulae. 
Many a pupil works as mechanically as a "nickle-in-a-slot- 
machine" and very much after the same order. Just as 
soon as he can make a guess as to the "case," 
the wheels begin to whir. It may not be neces- and 

Formulae. 

sary to shun absolutely the very word "case," 
the "BxR = P," etc-, but it is asserted upon the basis of 
repeated experiences that pupils may master the subject of 
percentage without hearing or using these terms at all, and 
it is asserted with equal positiveness that much of the life- 
destroying work in percentage is due to mechanical jug- 
gling with "cases" and formulae. 

The following solution is reproduced from a popular 
work on Arithmetic as another illustration of "how not to 
do it." 

10 per cent. =^300. 
I per cent. =3^ of ^300 = ^30. 
100 per cent. =100 X ^30 = $3, 000. 

Inasmuch as "10 per cent" means .10 or ^, we are 
confronted with the startling statement that the abstract 
number with a value of -^^ is equal in value to a concrete 
number with a value of 300 ones. It is not permissible to 
explain that these equations mean something different. 
Equations ought to mean what they say. On the same 
ground we would object to letting "100 per cent equal the 
cost," "■§■ equal the value," and similar expressions. An 



154 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

error analogous to these was pointed out in the discus- 
sion of common fractions. It is refreshing to turn now to 
the excellent solutions to be found in the "Standard," pp. 
238-241, 243 and 249. 

The meaning and the "general method" of interest 
are acquired in the "Elements," but the "six per cent" 
and other methods are to be presented now. The former 
should be taught well,- as -should a few of the 
Interest. "short rules. " The pupil should not be over- 

whelmed with "methods," but let him learn to 
compute, readily and accurately by short and simple 
"methods," interest at our prevalent rates, 6 and 8 per 
cent. Having acquired several methods, he should strive 
to determine the one most suitable to the problem he has 
before him. There is no one universally "best method" 
for interest. To develop the power of determining the 
best method, let various methods be employed upon 
the same problem and the best chosen. Do the same with 
other problems and compare, endeavoring to determine 
where each method fits best. Important distinctions can 
be illustrated by computing upon ^600, at 6 per cent for 
four years: 

1. The simple interest; 

2. The annual interest; 

3. The compound interest — paj'^able annually. 

4. The compound interest — payable semi-annually. 

A comparison of results and the methods by which 
they were reached will be profitable. Having to account 
for the difference of results will lead the pupil to search 
out the essential likeness and unlikeness of the four prob- 



ARITHMETIC. 155 

lems. An air of reality can be given to the work in all of 
'these types of problems as well as n those of partial pay- 
ments and discount by giving the problems in the forms of 
notes. If the teacher will secure fifty blank forms and fill 
out as many notes, negotiable, non-negotiable, demand, 
joint and several, simple interest, annual and compound, 
etc., etc., his pupils arevery likely to comprehend, 
not only these several kinds of- notes but the very 
meaning and nature of interest itself. These notes can be 
preserved and used year after year. In addition to 
these, the pupil himself should have training in 
filling out and endorsing notes in the various recognized 
forms. The interest calculations can be combined profita- 
bly with a review of former work. -Let one boy buy of 
another a tract of land, a crop of wheat or a drove of hogs 
at current prices and in payment give an interest-bearing 
note upon which he makes partial payments. Then let 
them agree upon a date of settlement and determine the 
sum due. Or let the purchaser go to a third boy, a banker, 
and borrow the needed amount of money according to the 
principles of bank discount, which subject, by the way, 
may nicely precede and pave the way for true discount. In 
these and similar ways, written Arithmetic will be made 
"practical." and comprehensible. The same helpful turn 
can be given to "stocks and bonds," by organiz- 
ing a company, securing a charter, issuing cer- stocks, 
tificates of stock for various numbers of shares, 
declaring dividends, making assessments, "watering 
stock," selling stock, etc. 

Much of the difficulty in the way of comprehending 



156 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

bond transactions is due to a lack of comprehension of the 
language employed. "Make haste slowly" is a wise motto 
here. The pupil should be initiated gradually into the 
difficulties of the subject. There should be a thorough 
drill upon the meaning of "U. S. 4's," "Mich. 5's," "5 
per cent stock," "bought at 90," "at 112^" or "at 25 per 
cent below par," "8 per cent on the investment," "10 
per cent dividend," etc. With . these points compre- 
hended through illustration and drill, this subject will lose 
most of its terrors. 

In connection with exchange all waj's of paying dis- 
tant creditors may be discussed. On the day preceding 
the taking up of exchange let the class be asked to tell on 

the following day of all the ways in which they 
Exchange. could pay for a bill of goods purchased from 

New York. A comparison of the purchase of a 
bank draft with that of a postoffice or express money order 
will be profitable. Let it be announced to-day that to- 
morrow John will again go to his class-mate, the banker, 
and purchase the draft which the latter will be expected to 
write. The class will be ready to criticise the methods. 
In exchange, as in all other applications of percentage, 
it is very important to be able to recognize the "base." Em- 
phasize the fact that in simple interest, bank discount, 
stock certificates, bonds or exchange, this "base" in the 
face of the note, bond, draft, etc., and that all percentages 
are computed thereon. The only exception is in the case 
of true discount, in which the "base" is to be ascertain- 
ed. Let it be remembered also that commission is computed 
upon the sum of money that passes from buyer to seller. 



ARITHMETIC. 157 

Compound proportion follows the mastery of simple 
proportion. No topic in Arithmetic has served as an 
intellectual opiate more freqtiently than this. It can be 
presented in such a way as to lead to a valuable 
type of reasoning, and again it may be — and Proportion. 
too frequently is — presented so as to lead to 
nothing but a blind groping for answers. Simple propor- 
tion as well as work in fractions must give the pupil the 
ability to recognize instantaneously that as 2 yd. are to 4 
yd., so is the cost of 3 yd. to that of 4 yd. That if 5 
men do a certain piece of work in 6 days, 5 men in 8 days 
will do more, or 3 men in 6 days will do less, etc., etc. 

The principle that ratio can exist between like num- 
bers only can be utilized by arranging the data like this: 
(See problem 14, p. 322.) 



yd.l. yd. b. yd. d. 
352 2| 11 

? 2| If 

The statement, solution and explanation appear be- 



men 


da. 


hr. 


54 


28 


10 


112 


25 


81 



low. 



54 

28 

10 
2| 
If 



112 1 

25 I 

8^ }- : : 352 yd. 1. : (x) yd. 1. 

2| I 

li J 



352x1X^x25x33 5 3 jL^A-419jl 



158 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

Explanation: The required term, the fourth, is to be 
"yd. long," hence 352 "yd. long," is the third term. 
Since 54 men dig a trench 352 yd. long, 112 men will dig a 
longer trench, and the result (so far as dependent upon the 
number of men) is larger than the third term, therefore the 
second is larger than the first, and the first couplet is 
54:112. Since a trench 352 yd. long is dug in 28 da., a 
shorter trench will be dug in 25 da., the fourth term is less 
than the third, the second is therefore less than the first, 
and the couplet is written 28:25. 

Since a trench 352 yd. long is dug when the workmen 
work 10 hours a day, when they work 8-^ hr. a day, the 
trench will be shorter, the fourth term is less than the 
third, etc. 

Since the workmen dig a trench 352 yd. long and 2^ 
yd. broad, if they dig one 2|- yd. broad it must be shorter, 
therefore the fourth term is less than the third, and the 
second must be * * etc. 

And so with the next couplet. 

If the problem is treated in a manner something like 
that indicated above, the ordinary pupil w//jV understand it. 
The study of involution should familiarize the pupil with 
the terms, power,exponent, square and cube, with the square 
of all the numbers to 12, (25 if possible), with 
Involution. the cubes of all numbers to 10 (or 12), with the 
expression of squares and cubes "in terms of 
their tens and units," and with the relation between the 
number of figures in any number and the number of 
figures in its square and cube. With these points master- 
ed he is ready to begin the study of evolution. For the 



ARITHMETIC. 159 

usual methods of finding square and cube roots, 

two so-called "explanations" are offered by Roots of 

^ -' Numbers. 

authors— the one by means of squares, figures 
and cubical blocks ("geometrical"), the other by an analy- 
sis of the square of any number of two or more figures into 
its three, and of the cube, into its four constituent parts. 
The latter "explanation" explains, the former does not, it 
only illustrates a particular class of concrete problems. To 
say that we "double the root already found," "because we 
have to add on two sides of the square" or that we "take 
three times the square of the root already found," "because 
we have to add on three sides of the cube" is to talk non- 
sense with all except a few problems. The "geometrical 
explanation" may be a satisfactory illustration of these 
few cases, but as an explanation of square or cube root it 
is a most deceptive failure. The explanation for problem 
2, p. 329, and the explanation at the bottom of p. 337 are 
universal in their application and really explain, which facts 
commend them. If it be said against them that they are 
algebraic, we may reply that they ought not to be too 
algebraic for a pupil completing the subject of Arithmetic, 
or if so, that inasmuch as they offer the only logical expla- 
nation of the work, the pupil ought then to solve by the 
rule and attempt no explanation at all. 

To call the "geometrical explanation" an explanation, 
is to practice deception. In cube root particularly, give a 
logical explanation, solve blindly by rule, or let the whole 
subject go over until the pupil reaches it in algebra, and 
the last is the most rational course of all. There is a men- 
tal discipline in the mastery of cube root prior to the study 



i6o THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

of algebra, but the discipline arises largely from the extra 
exertion required to master a subject that is out of its 
logical place. 

In Average of Payments and Average of Accounts, 
like Partnership, the fundamental principle is that of 
equivalency, and if all are to be studied, the rational thing 
to do is to study them in succession. The principle of 
equivalency appears in Partnership like this: "If A 
invests $800 for 9 months, his investment is the same as 
$7,200 for 1 month, for 9 X $800 = $7,200. " In Average of 
Payments and Average of Accounts it arises like this: ''By 
paying $300, 4 months before (or after) it is due, A gains 
(or loses) the use of $300 for 4 months, which is equal to 
the use of $1,200 for i month, for 4X$3oo = $i,2oo." 
This is certainly a better treata^ent than that on pp. 369- 
372 (Standard). 

Time is what is sought and, therefore, the comparis n 
should be made upon that basis. Problem i, p. 36S, would 
be solved as follows: 

$ 400 for mo. =0x$400, or $ 00 for 1 mo. 
$ 300 for 2 mo. =2 X $300, or $ 600 for 1 mo. 
$ 400 for 4 mo. =4 X $400, or $1600 for 1 mo. 



$1100 $2200 

$2200 -^$ 1100 = 2. Therefore, the average term of 
credit is 2 months. 

The Savings Bank Accounts, p. 374, are worthy of 
study in view of the fact that it is only a question of time 
when our government will follow the example of Great 



ARITHMETIC. i6i 

Britian, Austria, Prussia, France, Italy, and other nations 
in the establishment of Postal Saving Banks. By direct 
attention to this subject in our schools, we are making 
sentiment in favor of its adoption and preparing for its use 
when it is adopted. 

The foregoing pages of this chapter contain only oc- 
casional references to White's Oral Arithmetic. This 
must not be construed as an intended slight to that 
valuable book. In the Course of Study, Chapter I of this 
volume, provision is made for articulating the oral with the 
written Arithmetic. In suggesting this plan, two thoughts 
have been considered. The first is that oral 
Arithmetic is too important and too valuable to white's oral 

^ Arithmetic. 

be omitted from the school course. The sec- 
ond is that two recitations a day in Arithmetic require an 
amount of time for that subject entirely disproportionate 
to its relative importance. The result is a plan whereby 
the oral and written phases of the subject appear contem- 
poraneously, without neglecting or making a hobby of 
either. The following suggestions were made by Professor 
White to a body of Missouri teachers: 

1. Read the note to teachers, pp. 3 and 4. 

2. Let the pupils do the work, and give them time to 
do it. 

3. The inductive (or development) work is the 
soul of the book and should be done inductively, i. e., in 
the point by point method. Let the class answer the 
first question in a development exercise — be sure that all 
can answer it. Then give the second, and let it be 
answered in the same way; and so on, till the exercise is 



i62 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

completed. This, in almost every case, will secure the 
apprehension and comprehension of the principle involved 
— which, of course is the thing aimed at. 

4. If at any stage in the development process a con- 
siderable number of pupils fail to answer one of the sequent 
questions, let the teacher give other questions like the one 
in the book, but, perhaps, simpler. The design is that the 
pupil's mind be led gradually and naturally from what it 
knows to what it does not know. 

5. Emphasize the beginnings of ratio, pp. 30-34. 

6. Call attention to "Special Cases," pp. 49-54; 86- 
87; and in the various review exercises throughout. 

7. Call attention to the unique presentation of com- 
position and factoring, beginning on p. 55. 

8. See the easy method of explaining the division of 
one decimal by another: problems 16, p. 90; 14 and 15, 
p. m. 



LANGUAGE AND GRAMMAR. 163 



CHAPTER III. 



LANGUAGE AND GRAMMAR. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES AND SUGGESTIONS. 

Language, more than any other subject of the school 
course, is a part of the warp and woof of a child's being. 
He may have little use for history, civics, numbers or 
geography, but if he live in a community with his fellow- 
men, he will use language. Daily, almost hourly, he will 
communicate with others. This constant use, beginning 
with the plastic period of infancy and extending 
to the close of life, serves to sink the roots of Language and 

' Habit. 

habit deep down into the fibers of being. . Thus 
habit becomes, in reality, "second nature" to him. This 
formation of habits begins with the child's first, attempts 
at speech, and, therefore, he takes with him on the first 
day of his school life the effects of at least three or four 
years of daily repetition of the commonest language forms. 
Fortunate is the teacher if this novice in school affairs 
hails from a home where good language is the rule. But 
such homes are exceptional, sad to say. In the majority 
of cases the pupil will bear in body and mind the marks of 
three years or more of daily use of incorrect and inelegant 



i64 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

modes of expression, and the scars will be all the more 
deep and enduring because of the very plasticity of child- 
hood. Since every year of further use will serve to deep- 
en and broaden these marks, it behooves the teacher to 
make their continuance as brief as possible. Let the work 
of uprooting begin at once. This is one instance in which 
the tares and wheat are not to be allowed to grow together 
unto the harvest. Uproot, trample out the tares now 
growing, and look to it that as few as possible be allowed 
to creep in through subsequent sowings. 

Notwithstanding the fact that the average person 

speaks a thousand words for each one that he writes, it 

remains true that with many teachers "language teaching"' 

is associated exclusively with written work. But let it not 

be forgotten that language may be oral as well 

Oral and . i -i i r 

Written as written, and that while the two forms are 

Language. 

related and inter-dependent, proficiency in one 
does not necessarily imply proficiency in the other. The 
one-sided view referred to above has resulted in a dual 
defect in many a language course. These "sins of omis- 
sion" are as follows: first, a partial neglect of the oral 
phase of thought expression in all grades; second, the 
consequent omission of all language culture below the 
third grade, or the time of beginning text-book work. 
Both are serious omissions. The general purposes of 
language are "to get and to give" — acquisition and ex- 
pression — and let it not be forgotten that much of the 
"giving" must be oral. Therefore, let us have a cultiva- 
tion of the power to clothe thought in oral dress, with 
ease, with vigor, and with fitness. The continuity of 



LANGUAGE AND GRAMMAR. 



165 



these two phases of language work through the grades 
from the first up, as well as the relative degree of attention 
they should receive has been crudely illustrated in the ac- 



■^ 



Eighth Grade. 




First Grade. 



companying schedule. This diagram is intended to con- 
vey the idea tliat there is to be no cessation in either kind 
of work, but the predominant oral phase of the primary 
grades is largely displaced by the growing written ele- 
ment. 

Language involves two elements — meaning and ex- 
pression—and the latter exists for the sake of the former. 
The thought side is the important one and the one worthy 
of emphasis. There may be a mechanical 
juggling with content-less words, but it has Thought 

and 

no place in legitimate language work. The Expression, 
first requisite, therefore, is something to ex- 
press — ideas. The possession of the idea should lead to 
the desire to express it, and this, in turn, to the realization 



166 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

of a need of language. In this we have the -logical; series 
underlying language work. Give, the, pupil something to 
say and a sufficient motive for saying, it, and ke will 
usually, though not necessarily, find the means. 

The conclusion from the foregoing propositions is that 
the teacher should first help his pupils to acquire thought 
• — pure, clear and useful thought. Its sources are many — 
objects, events, persons, books, pictures, etc. That his 
thought may possess clearness and distinctness, the pupil 
must learn to observe carefully, to listen attentively, to 
read reflectively. The thought, when acquired, must be 
expressed. This expression should be correct and fluent 
and, at the same time, characterized by simplicity and 
naturalness. Some there may be whose natural state 
seemingly is characterized by inaccuracy or halting or 
bombast. If so, such should be born again into the king- 
dom of better things. A "second nature" should be ac- 
quired, and old things should pass away. Expression 
should be "natural," but the good in expression should be 
the natural. 

One of the prominent traits of childhood is the 
tendency to imitate. This tendency is no less strong 
in linguistic than in other domains. Prompted by an 

innate impulse, the child imitates what he 
Imitation. hears as well as what he sees. Good models, 

therefore, are important. Many of the models 
from which the pupil's linguistic possessions are ac- 
quired are the current expressions of the home. If the home 
is one of rehnement and culture, the models will possess 
the same qualities. The teacher can hope much, wish 



LANGUAGE AND GRAMMAR. 167 

much, but he can do little toward improving these home 
influences. The models set in the school-room, however, 
are largely within his control. Let them be the best pos- 
sible. The language of the teacher should be free from 
slang, vulgarism and obvious inaccuracies, and so far as 
it is defective, the teacher's aim should be to make it 
better by study, reflection and practice. But the language 
of pupils is imitated by other pupils, hence the preventive 
value of an earnest endeavor to improve the general 
linguistic tone of the school-room. Correctness and ele- 
gance of expression are caught quite as much as taught. 
On the other hand, it must be admitted that inaccuracy 
and inelegance are as contagious as any other evil which 
the school-room helps to disseminate. And sometimes a 
single vigorous-minded pupil can inoculate an entire 
school with the microbes of slang. 

There is another class of models — those of literature. 
Too frequently do teachers overlook the influence of the 
pupil's reading upon his modes of expression. The young 
reader who lives in a world in which thoughts are invaria- 
bly clothed in elegant word-habiliments will catch the 
spirit of his environments and think and talk in elegant 
language. The linguistic atmosphere, like the moral, 
leaves its mark upon those who live in it. Consciously 
and unconsciously may one obtain from what he reads a 
training in the correct and vigorous use of language. 

As has been implied already, much of the teacher's 
work must be corrective. There will be numerous errors 
in the language of the pupils in the recitation, on the 
play-ground, in written work. Many of them will be the 



i68 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

habitually incorrect forms imported from the home. Not 
only must they be corrected, and this in a manner that 
will not discourage or antagonize, but the pupil must be 
set on guard to prevent the repetition of the mistakes. 
He must understand that incorrect forms will not be ac- 
cepted. The teacher who succeeds in informing his 
pupils of the most frequent errors in their speech and of 
the corresponding correct forms, who inspires those pu- 
pils with so strong a desire to shun the wrong as to keep 
them continually on the alert to prevent a repetition, has 
given his charges a fair start toward victory. Only by the 
combined efforts of teacher and pupil can the crudities of 
early childhood's speech and the inaccuracies to which 
children of all ages are prone be eliminated. Only by 
constant, patient, zealous effort will the haven 

Criticism by c r ■ 11 •!/->••• 1 1 

Teacher and of fair speech be attained. Criticism by teach- 

Pupil. 

er and classmates will be in order, but what is 
desired above all things else is criticism by the pupil him- 
self. A reflective "self-consciousness" must be awakened. 
The pupil must be led up to the point of desiring to speak 
and write correctly. 

If the school-room errors in the use of English should 
be noted and classified by the teacher, they will be 
found to fall into a very few classes. Mispronunciations, 
confusion of participles with tense-forms, of nominative 
with objective forms of the pronouns, and of singular with 
plural verb-forms, use of double negatives and colloquial- 
isms — these nearly exhaust the list. 

Therefore, a well-directed and continuous campaign 
against these expressions should be conducted. Work 



LANGUAGE AND GRAMMAR. i6g 

should be carefully planned to involve the correct forms 
corresponding to these inaccuracies. When a 

, • , ... Ill Overcoming 

mistake is made, see that it is replaced by a Evil with 

^ ■' Good. 

correct form. If the pupil knows the correct 
form, require him to produce and use it, otherwise it must 
be supplied by another pupil or by the teacher. At any 
rate, the pupil must use the correct form, otherwise the 
time spent in criticism is wasted. 

The principles apply with equal force to written and 
oral expression. Written work must be examined and the 
errors marked. Nothing conduces more to habitual slov- 
enliness and disorder than the impression that written work 
is never examined and that a folded paper, with anything 
or nothing within will answer all requirements. Teachers 
are responsible for what they accept as much as for what 
they give. Better far is it to have less writing, have it ex- 
amined, criticized and corrected, than to have much written 
in a careless, indifferent way. As far as possible, the pupil 
should be his own critic — a question from the teacher, an 
interrogation point or some other suggestive symbol serv- 
ing to direct the pupil's attention to the weak point. Fre- 
quently, composition work may be placed upon the black- 
board and the class become critics. Criticism, in all 
cases, should be directed to those points which the pupil 
may reasonably be expected to regard in his usage. After 
the criticisms are all in — whether of flagrant 

... , . . . r 1 1 • 1 Criticism 

violation of simple rules or of the higher mat- and 

Improvement. 

ters of good style — the pupil should be expected 
to re write, profiting by the suggestions received. The re- 
writing should be regarded as a privilege rather than a 



I70 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

penalty. This view may be secured, if the teacher be tact- 
ful in presenting the matter to his class. Language work 
should be food, not "medicine" to the pupil. ^ 

After a second writing and a second criticism, the com- 
position may be transferred to a "composition book" and 
preserved. If the date of writing be attached to each, the 
pupil will, in later years, derive both pleasure and profit 
from an occasional inspection of the steps by which he 
climbed. These composition books may be purchased for 
a few cents or manufactured from suitably-ruled paper. 
Occasionall)' a composition may be written on a topic used 
some months before, without re-reading the earlier exer- 
cise until after the latter is completed. 

For indicating mistakes and suggesting improvements, 
a simple system of symbols is desirable. Variations of the 
following have been used by many teachers, placing the 
symbol in the margin, and underscoring the error if desired: 

C — mistake in the use of capital. 

P — mistake in punctuating. 

S — mistake in spelling. 

G — mistake in grammar. 

Wd — wrong word. 

( ) — re-write. (Enclosing the part.) 

Wr — careless writing. 

Par — new paragraph. 

? — inquire about this. 

A simpler form has been recommended, consisting of an 
oblique line (blue), through an error in spelling, punctua- 
tion, or use of capital, a line under a misused word, and 
parentheses about anything that needs reconstruction. 



LANGMGE AND GRAMMAR. 171 

Sometimes old€r pupils may be trusted to criticise the 
work -of a lower grade. This will be good for the examiner 
and fof'the teacher, but the teacher should not fail to in- 
spect at least a part of the work. 

A COURSE IN LANGUAGE. 

Language work is many sided. It embraces training 
both direct and indirect. It includes much work of the 
text-books, but much additional work not found therein. 
In the following pages the aim will be two- 
fold — to suggest means of getting the most a Language 

"o 00 Course. 

good from our adopted texts and to indicate 
lines of supp'ementary work. Without attempting to sep- 
arate the 'two, we append hereto an outline of what is 
thought to be a fairly comprehensive course in language. 

I.- Uotistant use of language, oral and written, lead- 
ing tO'fluency and ease of expression. This begins with 
the beginning of speech and ends with life itself. It is 
given io the teacher to direct the current of thought and 
expression through several years of the early life of his 
pupils and this opportunity should result in the acquisition 
of a fluent and easy use of a rich and well-selected vocab- 
ulary. 

1. Friefid/y criticism from teacher and classmates, 
leading to the eradication of error. This also, is a 
feature of the entire course, beginning with the simplest 
grammatical forms and leading up to the more abstruse 
elements of rhetorical finish. 

3. Cd^/j'/^cr sentences, gems, parts of reading lessons 
and the like, from which much of the mechanics of com- 



172 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

position will be acquired. This work begins with the 
ability to write and may be continued with profit even to 
the fifth or sixth grade. Correct copying necessitates 
close observation, and thus another benefit is obtained. 

4. Memorizing choice selections of literature. An- 
drew D. White has said that he is profoundly thankful to 
those early teachers who led him to store his memory with 
the beautiful gems of literature. Many a less noted per- 
son has ground for the same gratitude. Aside from the 
memory culture is that higher gain, the enrichment of the 
mind with the finest things in literature. From near the 
beginning to the very close of the language course there 
should be this storing in memory of suitable selections. 
A selection to be suitable should express a complete 
thought-unit, should reflect some universal experience and 
should be such as will grow on the learner as he grows 
older. Thus to memorize "Lo, The Poor Indian" without 
the setting is to miss the "beauty of the whole." "Paul 
Revere" contains nothing that is universal, nothing 
especially worthy of memorizing. Compare with "Abou 
ben Adhem" or "Something Undone" and the absence of 
the universal elements will be noticeable. 

5. The mechanics of composition — punctuation, capi- 
talizing, paragraphing, abbreviations — begini^ing-with the 
copying work and extending through all the written work 
of the pupil until these points no longer need attention — 
i. e. , until their correct application becomes habitual. 
There is so little of this whole matter that it can be intro- 
duced gradually and yet effectively, so that the pupil ac- 
quires a mastery of the mechanical side of composition 



LANGUAGE AND GRAMMAR. 173 

without a formal study thereof. The pupil ought to 
attend to much of this mechanical work in the same 
automatic way in which he dots his i's and crosses his t's — 
and habits are formed by repetition. 

6. Description of objects, pictures, persons and 
places, proceeding from the very simple to that which is 
highly complex. Description may be either oral or writ- 
ten. The former may be begun before the child has 
learned to write. As soon as friendly relations are estab- 
lished between him and his teacher, he can be induced to 
"tell about" familiar things. Soon he can be led to ob- 
scrve and then to tell. Whether the lesson be one in read- 
ing or numbers or nature-study, it is also a lesson in 
language. There will be constant opportunity for oral 
description. Nor ought this phase of the work to cease 
when the pupil learns to write and acquires the power of 
written description. An occasional exercise in oral 
description is not amiss for older pupils. But after the 
pupil learns to write, there should be much of the written 
description. It may be of a simple- object like a top, or a 
complicated mechanism like a locomotive, an air-pump 
or a sewing machine, of the teacher's desk or Westminster 
Abbey, of a microscopic view or a mountain, of a picture 
from the wall, magazine or text-book, of well-known per- 
sons, or of places familiar to the writer. With such a 
wide range of materials as a basis and with the principle 
that "every lesson is to be a language lesson" as a guide, 
it is clear that this descriptive work may be continued 
through all grades of school work. 

7. Narration of events present and past. The 



174 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

foundation for this line of work is telling what things are 
doing. From telling that "James is coming," it is an 
easy transition to a series like "James is coming;" "he is 
standing;" "he is opening his book;" "he is reading:" "he, 
is closing his book;" "he is sitting down." From the 
telling of a thing wliilc it is occurring, there is no difficulty 
in passing to the telling as if it were past. And from the 
single event past the child can be led to tell of the series 
past. And here open up the illimitable fields of the past 
so far as the pupil's knowledge can penetrate. What he 
has done, what his friends, animal and human, have 
done, what others, noted and obscure, have done — all 
these may be narrated in a style varying from the simplest 
to the most ornate. Consequently this phase of language 
work is suitable for all grades beginning quite early in the 
first. 

8. Dictatio)2, suitable for any grade after the pupil 
has learned to write. The principal uses to which this 
kind of exercise can be put are the correction of work al- 
ready prepared or the taking of new work to be corrected 
later. Dictation can be made a valuable aid in the me- 
chanical phases of composition. 

g. ; Reproduction, oral and written and adapted to any 
grade. Th3 child should be trained to gather thought 
from a single reading or hearing, and to reproduce it in 
connected, form. But let it be remembered that the 
thought of a selection may be reproduced quite fully with- 
out repeating the original words. This form of language 
work can be used nicely in connection with the Reading 
and History both regular and supplementary. There ought 



LANGUAGE AND GRAMMAR. ^ 175 

to be no difficulty in finding material for this kind of work. 
Reproduction, however, must not be allowed to usurp the 
place of originalthought. Each has its place in language 
work, but the very ease with vvhich selections can be read 
and reproduced may influence both teacher and pupils to 
look with undue favor upon the reproductive work. 

10. Supplying ellipses in sentences. These sentences 
are to be written upon the blackboard and blanks left in- 
dicating the place where the omitted word or phrase is to 
be supplied. Such exercises are of value in leading to a 
discrimination between correct and incorrect forms, be- 
tween words similar in sound but unlike in meaning, and 
between words almost synonymous. These lines of work 
are illustrated below. In the first group the pupil is 
directed to supply the proper forms of see; in the second 
to use to, too and two correctly; in the third to insert 
enough or sufficient as may be proper. 

I President Cleveland. Have you him? John 

two presidents, etc. 

whom did you speak? Which— — shall I bring 

you? Shall Charles come ? etc. 

Although he never had money, yet it was evident 

that he had — -^to meet all reasonable demands, etc. 

11. /^-F^crz'/;?^^^ r6';;/<'.\7.f about isolated sentences. This 
will prove profitable anywhere between the third and sixth 
grades. Select a sentence from the middle of a well- writ- 
ten paragraph and let the pupils supply a setting, or write 
the first sentence of a paragraph and require the pupils to 
complete it. 

12. Coinpleting Unfinished Stories. Read to the pupils 



176 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

a portion of some new story. Have it discussed if need 
be, and reproduced to show that it is fully in mind. Then 
allow pupils to complete the story according to the individ- 
ual likings. Often there will be profit in allowing other 
pupils to criticise these endings. Old copies of the 
"Youth's Companion," ''St. Nicholas," and the like will 
be helpful here, and stories can be found for almost every 
grade. 

13. Making up s/ories from pictures or from sugges- 
tions. The value of pictures in this connection is great. 
Such pictures as were found m Miss Hyde's primary book 
and such as appear in almost every issue of the better class 
of juvenile magazines will be of immense value. Suggest- 
ive directions may call forth imaginative productions. 
For example: "Write a story of a little boy seven years old 
and his little five year old sister who started out to see the 
circus." Or: "Tell the story of a little fish that disobeyed 
its mother and played about a fly. " Or, for older ones: 
"Write an account of a man who has been living on a 
lonely island for fifty years and now returns to the United 
States." 

14. Writing letters, business forms, advertisements, 
telegrams, notes, receipts, news items for local papers, 
etc. This will be "practical" and interesting work. A 
weekly "paper" may be issued, with some of the older pu- 
pils as editors. The paper may be made a resume of the 
news of the week as written up by the pupils, the best be- 
ing selected for "publication." Skillfully managed, this 
device may be made productive of much good. Every 
editor will testify to the need of such work. 



LANGUAGE AND GRAMMAR. 177 

15. Paraphrasing and atnplifying selected passages. 
For these purposes suitable selections may be made from 
the reading matter of pupils or teacher. Sometimes the two 
lines of work may be combined, but not usually will it be 
desirable to unite them For paraphrasing, poetry is par- 
ticularly suitable. Such poems as Evangeline, Snow- 
Bound, Deserted Village, Enoch Arden, and many shorter 
ones may be utilized occasionally for this purpose. The 
amplification may be of a descriptive sentence, a proverb, 
or any expressive quotation. Paraphrasing is closely re- 
lated to -'reproduction," and, therefore, is available for 
nearly all grades. Amplification ought not to be at- 
tempted until pupils have developed considerable power of 
thought. 

16. Using the dictionary. The "dictionary habit" is 
one of great value to any student. Many studants never 
learn how to use the dictionary, and many more never 
form the habit of doing so. Every school-room wherein 
are pupils above the primary grades should be supplied 
with one of the standard dictionaries, and every pupil 
above the primary grades should own a small dictionary. 
Spelling, pronunciation, etymology, meaning and use of 
words are to be found in the dictionary. From it also 
may be drawn material for the study of synonyms and 
paronymns. 

17. Composition-writing. This is an important type 
of language work. The descriptions and narratives re- 
ferred to above , are included under the broad term "com- 
position." But there is another phase of the composition 
process, the more formal and frequently more dreaded one. 



178 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

which usually bears the exclusive title "composition." 
The common dislike for the composition exercise is 
generally due to the air of formality in which the 
whole subject is enveloped. When the pupil is assigned a 
subject that is neither entirely above nor entirely below 
his plane, and one about which he knows or can 
know something, he will lack that unwholesome dread of 
the work. Much of the antipathy to composition-writing 
is of the same nature as the dread of letter-writing so 
common among adults, due largely to the mere fact of be- 
ing apart from the accustomed round of experience. 
What is usual. and habitual is easy. It is the line of least 
resistance. The conclusion from these premises is evi- 
dent. Make it usual and habitual to express thought both 
orally and in writing and neither will be dreaded. 

The earlier compositions will consist of few and dis- 
jointed sentences. But practice in writing and the study 
of selections with "quality rather than quantity" as a 
motto, will gradually develop the power of connected 
discourse. Without "making a hobby of language," a 
pupil who passes through such a course as we have out- 
lined ought to attain a fair degree of proficiency in the use 
of English. A recent writer, Prof. J. B. Wisely, has pre- 
sented the following as his ideal, yet fears that^it is set too 
high, a fear that ought to be groundless: '■'■I tvish my pu- 
pils, as a result af their composition work, to be able to take 
a subject, think the thought of it carefully and accurately, 
organize that thought about a purpose, and express it ac- 
curately and appropriately in a paper of printable English, 
neat inform, properly punctuated, capitalized, paragraphed 



LANGUAGE AND GRAMMAR. 179 

and tvith no misspelled words.'" Every teacher of children 
ought to be able to say, "my sentiments too." 

Early m their composition-writing pupils ought to 
discern that certain thoughts hang more closely together 
than others do. Thus in writing about the horse we may 
tell "how he looks" and "what he does," and thus the 
child will be led to appreciate the purpose and method of 
paragraphing. At first this divisi-on into paragraphs may 
be secured by a few broad questions; as for example, What 
is a wagon? What is the shape of the wheels? What 
are the kinds of wagons? What are wagons used for? 
Later on the pupil alone or with the aid of the teacher 
works out an outline, such as the following: 

i I. Parts and their uses. 
Wagons - 2. Kinds and their uses. 
( 3. How and where made. 

[ I. Qualities. 
*Coal .<■ 2. Uses. 

( 3. Where and how obtained. 



Steel 



[ I. Qualities. 

I 2. Uses. 

I 3. Kinds. 

[ 4. How made. 



[ I. Appearance — size, shape, color, covering. 

ryy p 1 ! 2. Principal parts — description and uses. 

' 3. Habits. 

[ 4. Uses. 



*The form of these outlines was suggested by Prince's "Courses 
and Methods." 



iSo 



THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 



l' I. Appearance — size, shape, color. 

The Tea | 2. Principal parts — root, stem, leaves, etc. 

Plant "I 3. Where found. 

l^. Use — preparation for. 



Lincoln -\ 



[ I. Birth — time, place, parentage. 

2. Home and early influences. 

3. Boyhood and youth. 

4. Education. 

5. Public career. 

6. Domestic life. 

7. Death — when, how. 
[ S. Character. 





' I. 


Location. 




2. 


Size. 




3- 


Divisions. 




4- 


Principal streets. 


St. Louis - 


5- 


Points of interest. 




6. 


Chief industries. 




7- 


Educational advantages 


■v" 


-8. 


Municipal organization. 




I 9- 


History. 



A Trip to 

Jefferson City ^ 



1. Time and place of starting. 

2. Route taken. 

3. The intervening country. 

4. Objects and incidents of the way. 
C I. When reached. 
I 2. How received. 



5. Destination -j 3. 

4- 
[5- 

6. Length of stay. 

7. Return. 



General impressions. 
Later impressions. 
Places visited. 



LANGUAGE AND GRAMMAR. 



i8l 



C I. First building — when, where, why. 

j 2. Construction —how, cost. 

Railroads J 3. Extent. 

{ 4. Organization. 

j 5. Benefits. 

[6. Ownership. 



Benefits of 
Railroads. 



4- 
5- 
6 

17- 



To those who furnish labor and materials 
To employes — number, wages. 
f 1. Grain. 



To produc'rs of -•, 3. 
|4- 

To new countries. 
To travelers. 
To publishers. 
To governments. 



Live stock. 
Manufactured goods 
Minerals. 
Lumber. 



fi. Frequency — tendency of the times. 

j 2. Cruelty to horses — examples. 

Cruelty to | 3. ; Cruelty to dogs. 

Animals. -[ 4. Cruelty to birds. 

I 5. Cruelty to other animals. 

I 6. Effects on the person. 

[ 7. Best means of prevention. 



These outlines are merely typical. Instead of 
"Wagons" the teacher may substitute Watches, Printing- 
presses, Sewing-machines, Pumps, Steam-engines, Cars, 
Boats, Plows, Houses, Stoves, Books, etc. For "Coal" 
he may put Salt, Iron, Gold, Water, Wool, Marble, 
Asbestos or Petroleum. "Steel" belongs among manu- 
factured articles along with Wine, ;^Rubber, Ice, Glass, 
Lumber, Flour, Sugar and Thread. The "Camel" may 



i82 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

be displaced by the Horse, Ox, Sheep, Dog, Elephant, 
Cat, Pigeon, Whale, Hog, Seal, and the like.- With the 
"Tea Plant" might be grouped the Coffee, Banana, 
Lemon, Apple, Grape, Corn, Wheat, Hemp, etc. 
Lincoln is but one from a long list of names eminent in 
the world's history and from this "honor roll" many other 
names may be chosen: Grant, Stonewall Jackson, La Fay- 
ette, Whittier, Irving, Major Andre, Pochahohtas, Flor- 
ence Nightingale, Edison, Webster, Gladstone, Greely, 
Franklin. For St Louis and Jefferson City may be writ- 
ten the name of an}' town in Missouri or elsewhere. 
Somewhat like "Railroads" ma}' be discussed Banks, the 
Telegraph, etc. Many topics cannot be outlined accord- 
ing to a model but each must be considered independ 
ently. 

1 8. Analysis of selections from standard literature — 
not hair-splitting grammatical dissection, but an attempt 
to determine the thought of the author, his purpose in ex- 
pressing it, and the method by which h,e attempts to ac- 
complish his purpose. This will necessitate some sort of 
outline of the selection. Afterward, this outline may be 
used again as a basis for a composition. 

ig. Tt'chnical grammar, for the sake of its training 
in analysis, its help in determining correctiforms, and its 
explanation of the correctness or incorrectness of any ex- 
pression. 

20. Figures of speech and the simple qualities of style, 
which will be worth more to the pupil than would unlim- 
ited "word dissection." 



LANGUAGE AND GRAMMAR. 183 

DE GARMO'S BOOK. 

It is believed that by the beginning of the third year 
the pupil will be able to take up and and use De Garmo's 
book. Part I can be mastered easily in one year if the pu- 
pil has had any language-training during the 
DeGarmo fwo years preceding. Should this preliminary 
work have been neglected, it will be best to de- 
fer the use of the text-book for a time. The pupil needs a 
limited amount of drill in the use of oral and written 
language forms before beginning the formal text-book 
work. The nature of this preliminary work has been in- 
dicated in the preceding pages, but a brief recapitulation 
is given below: 

I. Much use of language under the sympathetic 
guidance of a teacher who realizes the importance of habit 
and the ease with which it is acquired. This language is 
to be the expression oi thought — the enthusiastic thought 
of minds alive with interest in their fellows and in the 
world about. There will be facts to communicate, discov- 
eries to reveal, descriptions to give, and stories to narrate. 
Under the guidance of the capable teacher the child ac- 
quires habits of easy and correct expression of thought. 
2. Copying from written or printed forms 
A Resume. and from dictation, according to ability of 
pupils. 

3. Writing simple sentences which have been pre- 
viously expressed orally. 

4. Reproduction, oral and written, of reading lessons 
or stories which pupils may have read or heard. 



iS4 THE MISSOURI SUPERVIbOR. 

5. Sympathetic correction of errors in all these 
forms of work. 

When the text-book is taken up, it should be used 
with that same good sense which characterizes the intelli- 
gent teacher at all times. Text-books are the working 
tools of school life. No true teacher lashes himself hand 
and foot to any mast. The teacher may be an artist or an 
artisan, but if he attempts to follow any author unreservedly 
the title of artist must be denied him. In De Garmo's book 
are many excellent exercises. But the artist teacher will 
find places and ways of departing from the ways of the 
book. In some instances it will be to omit, in others to 
supplement. At all times let it be realized by 
Following teacher and pupil that text-book pages are not 

the Book. f f r fs 

a measure of success or failure. Improvement in 
the use of the mother-tongue is the criterion of progress. 
This it is that the teacher's eye should be seeking to discern. 
The exercises of our text-book will prove helpful to this 
end, especially when used in the light of the author's valu- 
able hints as to the purpose and method of the several 
lessons. Supplementary work similar to that of lessons 
IX, XVI, XXIII, XLVII, XLVIII, may be provided in 
abundance, "^sop," "Robinson Crusoe," and other books 
of stories may be drawn upon for work similar to lessons 
XX, XLVI, LXXX. These exercises may be handled in 
such a perfunctory way as to render them valueless. On 
the other hand they may be so conducted as to be of very 
great value. Let the incidents be stated in answer to the 
teacher's questions. For example (lesson LXXX): 
What was one thing Robinson Crusoe lacked? What did 



LANGUAGE AND GRAMMAR. 185 

he make instead? What did he do each morning? After 
his return what did he do? What did he shoot one day? 
How did he feel? What did he see? How did he then 
feel? Etc., etc. After going through the exercise in this 
way, the teacher may ask questions or give directions that 
will require several statements, as "How did Robinson 
spend his time?" Or, "Tell about Robinson and the 
kids," etc. In this oral work good language must be re- 
quired. After the thought has been mastered and ex- 
pressed orally, it should be expressed in writing. This 
can be done out of class, but must be submitted for 
criticism. 

For the right presentation of the work required by De 
Garmo's book certain things are necessary. Of these, 
two are specified: a knowledge of mythology, literature, 
and history, and a trained imagination. Unless 

, , . , , . .,, , , Requirements 

one possesses these, his teaching will be barren from the 

Teacher. 

indeed. It will be a desert land through which 
he will conduct his "language" classes. The teacher who 
doesn't enter into the spirit of Robinson Crusoe, Ulysses 
and Lincoln, will make a flat failure of the language 
lessons relating to them. 

Exercises in description (see lesson L) may be multi- 
plied. In such work the thought of lesson XLIX should 
be applied. 

In this grade, the oral phase is quite prominent. 
The oral language of pupils must be closely watched by 
both teacher and pupils. This is not limited to the reci- 
tation of the language class. "Every lesson is a language 
lesson" to the extent of requiring the use of language and 



i86 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

providing opportunity for impressing good forms of speech 
and uprooting bad ones. Reproductions of stories, simple 

descriptions, accounts of the reading lesson 
Oral Work. may be put into oral form and may be of great 

value. Sometimes this oral work may precede 
the written, sometimes may be used independently thereof. 
Beginning with this grade and increasing in difficulty 
with the development of his powers, the pupil may be 
trained to think sentences into appropriate settings. Thus 
such a sentence as "Once a year they returned to their 
former home," or "The postman handed me a box this 
morning" may furnish the basis for an interesting para- 
graph from each pupil. Here the individuality of the 
several pupils will appear. Give rein to the imagination 
in such work. Insist upon two things only — that the pupil 
do his own work and that it be his best. 

"Part II," the fourth year's work, may be supple- 
mented in much the same way as has been suggested for 
"Part I." The stories, both historical and legendary, may 

be supplemented by others of like or unlike 
"Part 11"— nature. "Boys (and girls) who have made 

Fourth Year. -^ V o y 

themselves famous" may be talked about and 
written about — thus introducing the pupil to an 
interesting phase of history. The comparison of adjec- 
tives, lesson X, may be pushed farther. A more thorough 
drill on the work of lesson XXVIII will be desirable. 
Exercises 72, 75 and 84 go well together, and the uses of 
shall and will need even further elucidation. Lesson 
XLVII may be extended indefinitely. The treasure 
houses of Greek, Roman and Indian history and mythology 



LANGUAGE AND GRAMMAR. 187 

have been unlocked and their contents given to us in 
innumerable volumes. All these are accessible to teachers 
of the present day. Lesson LIV may be followed by a 
study of love and like, think, expect and guess, teach and 
learn, stop and stay, etc. In addition to the text-book 
requirements, there should be further work in oral and 
written discourse. Reproduction of stories and of reading 
lessons, incorporating isolated sentences into contexts, 
description of objects and actions are within the scope of 
fourth grade work. In his written work, let it be assured 
beyond doubt that the pupil has not only something, but a 
clear-cut and very definite something, to say. The pre- 
requisite for this is something definite in his thought. 
Require him to know the story definitely before tr^'ing 
written reproduction; to see objects and actions clearly 
before describing them. 

The fifth year's work comprises Part III (or Parts III 
and IV,) of DeGarmo's book. The first is but a continua- 
tion of the work of the year preceding, with a near induct- 
ive approach to the confines of technical 

„ -I-. TtT 1 -1, Fifth Year— 

(jrrammar. Fart iV approaches nearer still. Parts iii 

and IV. 

What a compliment it is to our author that a 
pupil is inducted into technical Grammar without realizing 
the fact! Under the old regime there was no uncertainty 
upon this point. The event was usually suggestive of a 
plunge bath or the filling of a tooth. DeGarmo's book, 
therefore, forms an excellent basis for Patrick's. If 
desired, Part iV may be disposed of briefly since the same 
topics come up in the later book. But the author's sug- 
gestions and method are so helpful that the time neces- 



iS8 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

sary for a more careful treatment of the twenty-eight 
lessons of this section of DeGarmo's work can be spent 
here with profit. The work of this part will not be difficult 
for one who has had what precedes in DeGarmo's book. 

Supplementary work will be necessary in connection 
with Part III and desirable for Part IV, if that division is 
extended thtoughout the sixtli year. Work similar to 
lessons IX, XXI and XXXI, may be added. Time may 
permit and the teacher will doubtless desire to add to the 
"Fables and Fairy Stories," to the selections from the 
"Life of Lincoln," the "Adventures of Ulysses," "Stories 
from Rip Van Winkle," and the science studies in Chap- 
ters III and V of Part III and throughout Part IV. 

LESSONS IN GRAMMAR. 

It is believed that a pupil properly trained in the use 
of his mother tongue — and this does not imply an undue 
amount of attention to the subject or the neglect of 
anything else— will be ready for lessons in Grammar 
at the beginning of the sixth year. This is sufficiently 
early to satisfy the most ardent advocate of 

A New 

Book— technical grammar. On the other hand, the 

Patrick's. 

"language enthusiasts," after seeing the pupil 
safely through such a course as we have outlined, includ- 
ing both DeGarmo's admirable text and much supplement- 
ary work ought to be willing to relinquish him for a few 
minutes each day to the grammarians. In this way the 
pupil acquires both the art and the science — the former by 
practice at his most impressionable period, the lattei after 



LANGUAGE AND GRAMMAR. 189 

his reason has had a sufficient development to enable him 
to comprehend a science. In choosing this mean between 
the extremes of "all grammar" and "no grammar," we are, 
doubtless placing ourselves on safe ground. It will be 
observed, however, that the ^'grammar" of Patrick's book 
is far from being an encyclopedic aggregation of defini- 
tions, diagrams, rules and exceptions. Nevertheless the 
main facts of English Grammar are clearlyDset forth and 
abundantly illustrated from the rich mines of English and 
American literature. These illustrate the points of technic- 
al Grammar- — they illustrate also the best products of the 
English mind. Whether created or quoted — illustrations 
should be something more than a mere formalism. 

Superintendent Patrick claims that the '■'■exercises are a 
marked feature" of his book. He may well be pleased 
with them. A pupil who thinks his way through both or 
even one of the Patrick books will know more of English 
than if he had the 300 pages of some of the more formida- 
ble texts "by heart." 

Two years should be given to Patrick's first book. 
This will afford ample time not only for doing well the 
work of the book, but also for a continuation of the work 
in composition. This composition work will resemble that 
of the preceding years, but will be of increased difficulty. 
It ought also to be free from many of the errors and crudi- 
ties of the former work. There ought to be a finished 
composition from the pupil twice a month to the end of his 
school course. 

In the main, the plan of the "Lessons in Grammar'' 
is obvious, as the author claims. On the other hand, 



igo THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

there seem fo be some slips that indicate a lack of logical 
coherence, e. g., on page lo, where there are 
fo°b^e^ Watched ^^^^^iscs upon "the Complement of a copulative 
verb," although the pupil does not learn what a 
copulative verb is uiitil he reaches page 40, and for the 
"complement of a copulative verb" he must wait until he 
arrives at page 43. This defect can be obviated by the 
omission of the objectionable exercises -on page 10. 
Again, the definitions and presentation of infinitives and par- 
ticiples on pages 49, 50, 87 and 88 of the "Lessons" are 
completely at variance with what we find on pages 22-25 o^ 
the "Higher English." This discrepancy cannot be ex- 
plained as the enlarged view of an advanced over an ele- 
mentary text. The differences are fundamental. If- the 
participle "has the properties of a verb and adjective or 
verb and noun" in the higher book, it ought to do so in 
the lower. The gerund, which in the elemelitary book, is 
a "participial infinitive," recovers completely and is a 
well-behaved participle in the higher— a reformation we 
are glad to, record. A similar unsatisfactory treatment of 
mode is noticeable. In the "Lessons" (page 52), "there 
are three modes— the indicative, imperative and the sub- 
junctive." On page 59 of the same book is a synopsis 
which may be cofistrued as implying six modes — the three 
just named, together with the "conditional, j^tential, and 
the obligatory"-^while on page 38 of "Higher English" we 
are told that "there are four modes— the indicative, the 
potential, the subjunctive and imperative." We might 
infer from this that there are "three modes" of classifying 
modes. Our suggestion is that our author be taken at his 



LANGUAGE AND GRAMMAR. 191 

best. Neither he nor any other thoughtful teacher would 
have us present things as contradictory aS' these are, even 
though the contradictions are' mostly between the succes- 
sive books of a series. We may expect an elementary text 
to lack the fullness of a high school text, but a science does 
not contradict its teachings to children when it attempts to 
instruct adults. All things considered, we hesitate not to 
pronounce the view of the higher book on these contra- 
dicting points much the more satisfactory. Its treatment 
of the infinitive, the participle and mode is clear and log- 
ical. We commend it, therefore, for this reason, for the 
teacher' s guidance. 

By taking two full years for the completion of the ele- 
mentary book, ample time will be found for the introduc- 
tion of much supplementary work in connection with each 
topic taken up. The good teaching of almost every book 
requires this supplementary drill work. State law prohib- 
its the use of any other book as a text, but the earnest 
teacher will find in other texts much available material of 
great value and this may be used. "Exercises" should be 
multiplied until the successive topics are well mastered. 
The needs of the pupils must determine the amount of 
supplementary work. There may be a great deal of work 
based upon pages 61-64 ^^^ 74' ^^^ that of pages 166-192 
may be extended almost indefinitely. 

A few words of caution will not be inappropriate here. 
First, if pupils have not had much drill in "language" 
work, endeavor to introduce a great deal of it in connection 
with the Grammar. Proceed very slowly with the Grammar, 
and be not easily discouraged. Next, see that the "exer- 



192 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

cises" represent the pupil's own work. Take care that the 
work is not done /or the pupil and that he does not inherit 
illustrative sentences from a preceding class. Constant 
watchfulness backed up by a wholesome sentiment is the 
surest preventive. 

Patrick's second book, the "Higher English"is largely 
a continuation and expansion of the "Lessons in Gram- 
mar." In many instances it is but little more than a 
review. In others the two are contradictor}', as has been 
shown. In the last third of the book, however, the author 
enters new territory and acquaints the pupil with figures of 
speech and style. Copious exercises are introduced to 
impress what has been presented. It would be well could 
every young person against whom the doors of the "High 
School" are closed, be permitted to have at least such a 
taste of the well of higher English as in offered in this 
book. Life's horizon would be greatly broadened, even 
with no further study. 



GEOGRAPHY. 193 



CHAPTER IV. 



GEOGRAPHY. 



GENERAL DISCUSSION. 

Before the teacher is prepared to grapple with the 
how of Geography, he should have devoted considerable 
thought to its what and %uhy. In other words, the question 
of methods in Geography does not concern him until he 
has determined what constitutes Geography and why 
the subject is taught. 

Signifying etymologically "a description of the earth," 
Geography has been construed by some as an encyclopedic 
accumulation of facts about locations, heights, distances and 
the like, all resting upon a basis of maps and 
printed descriptions. To quote the expressive what is 

^ ^ -ax- Geography? 

language of Prof. King, "Geography has too 
frequently been treated as though it was the science of the 
where, map-drawing its chief glory, and the memory of 
words its only means of acquisition." Casting aside this 
erroneous conception, we are confronted with a multitude 
of other views, each differing as its possessor's power of 
interpretation", his "apperceptive power," differs. To 
one "the earth" is merely the local neighborhood projected 
into the unknown. While to another it signifies a great 



194 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

world-organism energized by those forces that make history 
possible and help to make it what it is. The pupil begins 
with the "neighborhood" view; he should grow toward the 
broader. More and more clear it must become to him that 
there is a "soul of the world," a great inner unity of plan 
and purpose like that which pervades the human body and 
makes it more than hand and foot and eye — in short, 
makes it an organism. It is needless to add that this 
higher conception of the earth should be the conception 
of every one who undertakes to teach Geography. To 
conceive the subject as a series of map-descriptions is to 
miss its true purpose altogether. 

The danger of this broader view is that it will lead to 
an undue extension of the sphere of the Geography. It 
must not be allowed to encroach upon the domains of 
Geology, Physics and History. Each of these has its own 
sphere. Geography, in short, must not attempt to cover 
the whole circle of human knowledge. 

What then is Geography? As a working basis for 

teachers, there is probably no better definition than this 

of unknown authorship: "Geography is the science of the 

earth as an organism, affecting and affected by 

J^^ man's institutions." As such it touches without 

Answer. 

encroaching unduly upon the whole circle of 
natural and social sciences. It gathers facts from all these 
sources and relates them into a science^ — the science of the 
earth inhabited. 

Geography, when properly comprehended and prop- 
erly presented by the teacher, is highly valuable. Even 
when it was taught solel)- for the sake of information to be 



GEOGRAPHY. 195 

gained, it was considered worthy of study. Now with 
our enlarged conception of what Geography is, comes an 
enlarged conception of the purposes of its presentation. 
Geography properly presented to the child-mind awakens 
its powers into activity, giving them increased 
vie:or from their activity and offerin^j excellent Purposes of 

° J <^ Teaching. 

opportunity for their training. The imagination 
is aroused and developed. Judgment receives excellent 
exercise. The conceptive powers are expanded. Imagin- 
ation gives originality; judgment becomes "common sense;" 
conceptive power means breadth of mind. A study that 
results in a marked development of these powers certainly 
has a high culture value. And it should not be forgotten 
that the culture value of Geography far outweighs its 
information value. But is geographical study to impart 
no knowledge? Is the student to learn nothing? Most 
assuredly he is to learn something, to learn many, many 
things, but the most important is the use of his own men- 
tal powers. 

Current methods of geography teaching are not per- 
fect. Some of the defects are very pronounced. The fol- 
lowing are of frequent occurrence: 

1. Making Geography too largely a mem- 
ory study. Defects. 

2. Making locality too prominent. 

3. Mistaking map study for Geography study. 

4. Failing to actualize through the imagination what 
is gleaned from maps and descriptions. 

5. Too little comparison. 



196 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

6. Failing to discern and emphasize what is of im- 
portance. 

7. Artistic map drawing. 

"Humanity, not locality," should be the aim of geo- 
graphical study. Instead of burdening memory with a 
mass of insignificant details concerning heights, distances, 
products, boundaries, etc., — matter that will soon be for- 
gotten except by a few — how much more rational to give 
the time to a few typical regions and use these as a basis 
of comparison for all others, discriminating between those 
that have significance in human progress and those that 
are merely facts. A mere fact, with nothing but its truth 
to commend it, has no place in a school geography. It 
may be true that a certain peak is 15,086 feet high but 
what of it? Would not human history have been the 
same had that peak been 15,087, or even 40,000 feet high? 
How large a percentage of our pupils can advance any 
reasons for Chicago's marvelous growth or have an ade- 
quate conception of the resources of "imperial Missouri"? 
Too much attention is given to maps as realities. How 
many, like the lamented Nye, are disappointed in not find- 
ing Indiana yellow? How many think of the Amazon as a 
broad black mark, Washington City as a star, and Yellow- 
stone Park as a rectangle in the corner of the map of 
Wyoming? Is not teaching defective when the means be- 
come and remain the end in the learner's thought? 

Map-drawing should be an important adjunct of the 
work in Geography. It is possible, however, to make it 
too prominent and to give it a trend that is not wise. 
When a very considerable portion of the time allotted to 



GEOGRAPHY, 197 

Geography is absorbed by map-drawing, or when the map- 
drawing degenerates into "artistic" attempts to 
vie with map-printing in variety of coloring Artistic Map- 
and nicety of detail, it is another case of a good 
servant that has developed into a bad master. To com- 
pel helpless Missouri children to reproduce from memory 
the minute irregularities of a line purporting to be at best, 
only an approximate representation of the coast of Maine 
or the sinuosities of the Tombigbee river, is both morally 
and pedagogically sinful. It is not denied that the child 
should know that the Maine coast is much more irregular 
than that of Florida, that Europe has better harbor facili- 
ties than Africa or South America, or that the Tombigbee 
makes its way slowly and tortuously through the alluvial 
plains of Alabama, but these are quite other matters. 

What then are the legitimate uses of map-drawing? 
The answer is to be found in a study of its effects upon the 
student's mind. Properly directed, map-drawing gives a 
comprehensive grasp of relations, binding the 
isolated and fragmentary together into a whole. Legitimate 

° ^ D Results. 

It develops the power to seize upon that 
which is salient and to give expression to it in symbolic 
form. Finally, map-drawing may be made to impress up- 
on the memory the things worth the while. To the teach- 
er himself it has additional value as a means of illustra- 
tion. Every teacher ought to be a "chalk-talker." 

How can map-drawing be made to subserve these 
useful ends? Not by the methods commonly employed. 
These benefits cannot be claimed for the prevalent type of 
map-drawing. A practical kind is the rapid, yet neat, off- 



igS THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

hand sketching for illustrative purposes — to show com- 
parative areas, routes of commerce, causes of climatic con- 
ditions, belts of production, general direction of slopes, 
strategic points in war, etc. The ability to put into an 
off-hand sketch the location, boundaries and slopes of the 
Mississippi basin, a summary of one's knowledge of South 
America, or the objective points of the French and Indian 
War reveals more than a half hour's written ex- 
5:^ap ^. amination can do. The pupil who is trained 

Sketching. ^ ^ 

to do such work neatly and rapidly is deriving 
a practical value from his map-drawing. Much, there- 
fore, should be made of the off-hand sketch-map. Of the 
artistically-drawn map Redway has said: "It is certainly 
not an essential element in the education of the average 
pupil." 

There are other forms of m?L^-7naki7ig that have value. 

The "progressive map," one that grows day by day as the 

pupil progresses in the study of the political or physical 

features, productions or history of a continent 

The 

Progressive or couutry, is of interest and value. The map 

Map. 

may be made by the teacher at the board or by 
the pupils during or after the recitation, or by both teach- 
er and pupils. If the teacher will prepare a card-board 
outline, the correct outlines of maps for pupils may be pre- 
pared with very little labor, and yet a correct outline be 
secured for the pupil's work. 

To show physical features several methods are em- 
ployed — sand, paper-pulp and putty being used for raised 
maps, and color, shading or contour-lines for relief maps. 
The raised maps may be made of sand or paper at little 



GEOGRAPHY. 199 

expense. The putty map will hardly justify its 

cost. The other two riiav be made useful in Physical 

•' Maps. 

connection with such physical maps as those in 

the books of the Rand-McNally series. In making the 

sand-map the following steps may be observed: 

1. Sift a thin layer of sand over the board, mark out 
the outline with a pencil, take away the outside sand with 
a brush. 

2. Sift over the great highland regions in proportion 
to height. 

3. Pour sand through a little funnel to represent the 
mountains and watersheds. 

4. Trace the rivers and lakes with the pencil point. 
For the pulp-map, crumple a poor quality of newspaper, 
put it into ajar and cover with boiling water. After a few 
da3's the fiber will have disintegrated and the pulp may be 
applied to an outline map traced upon a muslin cloth 
which has been tacked upon a board of convenient size. 
With no undue waste of time, pupils can prepare physical 
maps in colors or by shading. The latter plan is used in 
our adopted text. The representation by contour-lines is 
the most accurate of all in the hands of a skilled engraver 
with sufficient data before him (See Professor Marbut's 
inap of Missouri in the second book, Rand-McNally. ) A 
map of this kind is the most valuable of the physical maps, 
but it is too difficult for construction by pupils. 

One of the first duties of the teacher of Geography is 
to ascertain what basis of knowledge his pupils bring to 
the work. No normally constituted child can live in the 
world for six years without learning something of the e'e- 



200 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

ments of Geography — of land, water and atmosphere, and 
the forces acting upon and through them. Some children 

know much more about these things than others 
'fi.^ „ do, but all children, whether from city or coun- 

try, know something. Rain and snow, frost 
and dew; heat and cold and their effects; succession of day 
and night and of the seasons; sun, moon and stars; wind, 
clouds, smoke; boiling and freezing of water; some plants 
— their care, growth and uses; some animals and minerals 
and their uses; means of communication and travel; occu- 
pations and manners of life; manufacture of certain articles; 
races of men, religion, government and education; city and 
country; some of the units of land and water surface — hill, 
stream, pond, creek, river; soil, sand, rock, clay, mud and 
gravel; descriptive terms like round, long, green, blue, up, 
under, hot, cold, hard, soft, smooth, rough, high, low, wet, 
dry, light, dark, large, small — these are some of the things 
about which even children of six will have ideas, more or 
less incorrect and indefinite, it is true, but yet sufficiently 
akin to the genuine to serve as a basis for geographical 
work. How interesting it should be to the child to begin 
his study of Geography with these partially familiar matters 
and have unfolded to him the mysteries of the unknown. 
And how dull and depressing, on the other hand, to 
attempt to initiate the pupil into this new field through 
the door-way of map-drawing. This is the period in which 
the child's observing powers are keenly active — his reason, 
as yet, practically dormant. Hence the subject-matter 
and the learner seem admirably fitted for each other. 
Geography is suited for observation and constructive work. 



GEOGRAPHY. 201 

and the child mind is never more at home than when, 
engaged with these things. Eye, ear and hand are the 
agencies through which the throbbing energies of child- 
hood go forth. Wise teaching utilizes all of them. 

"Observation work" should have a prominent place in 
the presentation of Geography, especially in the primary 
grades. The child should be led not only to see what 
has hitherto escaped his observation, and might always do 
so, but also to interpret what he sees. Children can reason 
about these things much more than is commonly supposed. 
From the basis of the "known," the child is led 
gradually into the unknown with such an easy An objective 
transition that all the naturalness of the home 
life is preserved, and, unrealized by himself, he becomes a 
thoughtful interpreter of the natural phenomena that he 
has probably learned to love already. This is certainly a 
better plan than tearing the child away from Nature's works 
and setting him to interpreting a kind in which he can 
have little or no interest. The teacher himself, to do this 
work successfully, should be a loving and thoughtful 
student of nature, otherwise it will be a case of the blind 
leading the blind. 

Having ascertained just what the children know, the 
teacher sets about directing them into the unknown. He 
leads them to observe the greater heat of summer and 
associate it with the greater altitude of the sun and the 
longer days. He leads them* to know that winds are air in 
motion, resulting from a difference in temperature between 
two places. The tea-kettle and the laundry furnish the 
key to evaporation and condensation and thus to clouds, 



202 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

rain, hail and snow. From rain and snow it is not difficult 

to lead to soils, moisture, vegetation, springs and streams. 

The pitcher of cold water is an illustration of 

From the . i i r r i 

Known to the the formation of dew. i he land forms of the 

Unknown. 

neighborhood will likely include the plain, the 
hill and valley, and from these the important subjects of 
slopes is reached. The slope leads to a consideration of 
the stream in connection with which there will be opportu- 
nity to consider such terms as bank, mouth, current, bed, 
bar, tributary and, possibly, falls, island, peninsula, 
isthmus, cape, bay and gulf. The conception obtained by 
contact with these natural forms far surpasses in clearness 
and correctness any that can be obtained from definitions, 
descriptions or even pictures. While studying the rains 
and streams, it will be easy to consider the changes 
wrought by these agencies — the cutting, carrying and filling 
— changes that occur by every road-side and are repeated 
on a larger scale in every stream. From this point it is 
but a step to the consideration of soils — alluvial, native or 
drift — and the abundance of vegetation on each. Plant 
and animal life may be studied with interest and profit. 
Many new things can be learned about the most common 
plants and animals, if the teacher have the wit to direct 
and to impart wisely. Bishop Vincent has said: "A child 
of five ought to be able to recognize all the trees about his 
home by the differences in their leaves. "As a matter of fact, 
what percentage of adults can do this? The answer to this 
question shows how far short of our possibilities we are 
falling. And what is true of leaves is true of a hundred 
other lines of thoughtful observation. The truth is that 



GEOGRAPHY. 203 

the education of the present is still too suggestive of that 
of the Dark Ages, when youth were educated for another 
world than that in which they were living. The statement 
of Bishop Vincent, which has been corroborated by the 
testimony of hundreds of others, reveals what a child of 
five can do. Can we be accused of setting our mark too 
high in askmg the teachers of our state to train our children 
in using close, accurate observation on those things that 
they meet almost every hour of their lives? 



THE COURSE IN GEOGRAPHY. 



FIRST YEAR. 

The observations of this year are necessarily simple in 
chaxacter, but they should gradually increase m com- 
plexit3^ Some of the things which pupils may be led 
to observe and to talk about are: 

1. Weather — ram, snow, frost, dew, clouds, wind. 

2. Sun — rising, movement, setting, shape, light, heat. 

3. Land — hill, slope, top, roads. 

4. Water — rain, creek, river, pond, wave, well, 
spring. 

5. Temperature — hot or cold, of air, water, metals, 
— freezing, thawing, melting. 

6. Fire — fuel, warmth, ashes, smoke. 

7. Soils — black, red, clay, sand, gravel, loam, dust. 

8. Plants — kinds, places, sizes, uses, colors, growth. 

9. The apple — size, colors, parts, growth, uses- 



204 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

10. Growth — of seeds planted, of crops, trees, animals, 
self — food. 

11. The horse — size, colors, uses, food. 

12. Men — color, occupations, food. 

II. Tirvis of various kinds, all necessary to correct con- 
ceptions, are to be learned as far as possible through 
the child's own activities: 

1. Position — above, below, beside, in front, behind, 
corner, middle, between — by actual placing. 

2. Distance — near, far — by actual comparison. 

3. Direction — right, left, east, west, north, south. 
East and west can be learned as the direction of 
the sunrise and sunset; north as the direction 
facing, with the right hand to the east and the left 
hand to the west, and the south behind. Mark 
them upon the floor and drill in many ways. 

4. Size — large, small, tall, low, broad, ,slim — by com- 
parison. 

5. Form —round, square, three-cornered, pointed, 
oblong, straight, crooked, — by study of objects. 

6. Color — black, white, brown, red, green, blue, 
yellow, orange, violet — by means of decomposed 
sunlight and natural objects as leaves, flowers, 
fruit, etc. 

Ill Reading stories to the children from such books as 
will interest them in good reading and in Geog- 
raphy as well. 
* 

SECOND YEAR. 

The observations of this year become still more seach- 



GEOGRAPHY. 205 

ing and accurate. Those relating to soils, weather, plants, 
animals and occupations particularly, are susceptible of 
great extension. The pupil is becoming better and better 
acquainted with his home, the earth, and the reading of 
such a book as "The Seven Little Sisters" will give him 
vague notions of regions far, far awa}', which belong to 
the same earth as his, but the world is, as yet, a world 
without form and without boundaries. 

THIRD YEAR. 

This year's observation work should deal with such 
fundamental conceptions as hill, valley, plain, cape, penin- 
sula, stream, river, lake, island, etc., — in which the aim 
should be to lead to a comprehension of what is vital in 
each. The sand table will aid in impressing the results of 
observation. Trips to the blacksmith's shop, the post 
office, grocery store and the like can be of immense value 
in many ways. Practice reading and consulting the ther- 
mometer and making records of the weather. 

The third year ought to impress upon the pupil the 
idea of boundary — limited area — of desk, room, yard, 
farm district (or town), township, county and state — and 
the idea of representation — mapping. The first represen- 
tation, "picture," upon the child's slate may be of his 
book or box, an object smaller than his slate. An attempt 
to represent his desk results in a difficulty — the size is too 
great — and a solution-- reducing the scale. In some 
schools systematic drawing presents the reduced 
scale earlier than this, but generally it is the ^fj^j^ 
Geography teacher who has the obstacle to sur- 



2o6 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

mount. A distorted drawing with one dimension dis-pro- 
portionately reduced will develop the idea of proportion. 
Then measuring the desk, e. g., one foot by three feet, 
represent it one inch by three inches, one half-foot by 
three half-feet, one two-inches by three twos, etc. The 
school-room, the yard, etc., can be reduced in the same 
way. Tell the pupil that maps are nearlv always hung 
with the north uppermost. Let him hang some of his 
maps and note the other directions. Teach that in nearly 
all maps the top is north. Apply this. In maps of room, 
yard and district, locate the most important object —stove 
and desk, school-house and well, school-house, roads, 
streams and some residences. In the township, county 
and state maps avoid details and start with the pupil's 
home. He has heard the county and state names. Help 
him to clear up his vague notions somewhat. Do not 
try to teach too much. It may not be out of place to note 
that our state is one of many making up a great country, 
the United States, which is, in turn, a part of a great body 
called North America. But anything more than this is 
unnecessary here. 

The pupil can now read for himself. Suitable books 
for the several grades are listed in the appendix. 

FOURTH YEAR. 

The pupil now prepares to study Geography on a 
broader scale. He is now to rely upon others for his infor- 
mation. He receives a text-book as a store-house from 
which much of this material can be drawn. If the work 
outlined for the preceding years has been done, the 



GEOGRAPHY. 207 

pupil is ready for the first lesson of the Elementary text — 
upon the surface and shape of the earth. Should the 
teacher find that the fourth year pupils have not received 
any preliminary instruction, he should be very careful to 
introduce much supplementary work, of the kinds indi- 
cated, as he advances. An earth bounded by the covers 
of a text-book is too small for an intelligent pupil or a suc- 
cessful teacher. We shall proceed on the supposition 
that the work suggested has been done or will be done. 

The following suggestions are made in regard to the 
use of the adopted text: 

Use it as a reading-book, i. e. , read it and then pre- 
pare to tell in original form what has been read. Supple- 
ment lesson I, by telling of Columbus and Magellan, by 
referring to the appearance of ships approaching or reced- 
ing (see figures in lesson 7), and by introducing the globe 
to illustrate the form of the earth and of the horizon. (A 
croquet ball, or an orange and knitting needle will answer 
almost as well as an expensive globe.) Gather materials 
from the fields for lesson 3. In lesson 5, teach that vapor 
of water and carbon dioxide are also in the air, and em- 
phasize their importance. Write a composition upon the 
uses of air. Be sure that lessons 6 to 1 1 are 
learned out of doors. Many a pupil has suggestions, 
learned "entirely surrounded," etc., etc., and 
waited for years before comprehending. For such as 
isthmus, delta, etc , find the nearest possible illustration 
in the vicinity and use the molding-board, imagination and 
pictures. See that these fundamentals are comprehended. 
Ask why water flows and rain falls. Do not fail to illus- 



2o8 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

trate the points of lessons 12 and 13. Pupils will surely 
know the cardinal points. If so, add the semi-cardinals 
in lesson 14. In lesson 15, teach also eastern and western, 
land and water hemispheres from the globe. Supplement 
lessons 24 and 25. This is a good place to study some of 
the industries. Approach the idea of government from 
the rules of the school-room. In lesson 26, pause to map 
the room, yard and district, if not already done. A small 
black ball with a chalk dot upon it will show the value of 
meridians and parallels in locating. The divisions of the 
continents should be grasped as solids, not mere surfaces. 

FIFTH YEAR. 

The year may begin with a brief review. For lessons 
29 to 34 use the globe with maps upon its surface. Such 
lessons as 33 and 34 and preceding ones like 8, 16, 18, etc., 
will be helped by pictures from books and magazines. 
Dwell long on lesson 36. Train the pupils to interpret 
maps, both physical and political. Work much with open 
text-books. Locate your home on the maps of pages 66 
and 73 and other places relatively. Point toward them. 
In connection with lessons 39, 40, and many others, there 
may be interesting composition work. Write upon the 
history of a breakfast, the building and uses of a railroad, 
the raising of cotton, etc. Along with lesson 45 study 
Missouri from the supplement, question much upon sur- 
face — elevation, slopes and soil — with books open. Com- 
pare the new at all times with what is already known. 
Study the pictures and bring in otheis. In studying pro- 
ductions of England, Germany and the like, have pupils 
to bring articles from those countries. 



GEOGRAPHY. 209 

SIXTH YEAR. 

With the sixth year the pupil begins the advanced 
book of the adopted series. In plan, the book is similar 
to the Elementary — a general presentation of geographic 
facts, followed by a study of the several geographical 
divisions. Some have contended that the first fifty pages 
are too difficult for sixth grade pupils, and in consequence, 
have begun with the map-work about page 50. This plan 
argues a double misconception — first, of the importance of 
the descriptive element and second, of the author's plan. 
How one can read the preface of the work and 

, . . ,11 Plan of the 

run so counter to the spirit we can hardly con- Advanced 

Book. 

ceive. To follow the order indicated is like 
planting corn and doing the breaking afterward in order to 
avoid driving over the plowed ground with a planter. The 
kc}' to the whole volume lies in these first fifty pages. 
The manner of treating them will reveal whether the teacher 
is an artist or a day-laborer. For a proper presentation of 
these pages the teacher must have mastered them, both as 
to subject-matter and method. 

The following suggestions are offered in connection 
with some of the lessons of this year: 

1. Emphasize "due north"and south in the lesson on 
direction. Too many think that San Francisco is south- 
west of the north pole. 

2. Be sure to use the globe in the work relative to 
longitude. 

3. Use a card-board disc to separate the illuminated 
from the dark half of the earth's surface. Choose a dark 
afternoon and use a lamp in the lessons on day and night 



2IO THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

pnd seasons. With an inclined axis, a lamp and the disc, 
it ought to be easy to show why nights vary in length and 
seasons change. 

4. Illustrate the points of the lesson on the use of 
maps by turning to some of the maps of the volume. 
Read the "note to teachers," p. ig. 

5. In the lesson on Atmosphere, the following illus- 
trations will help: A tube filled with 7aa/er in the absence 
of murcury; down, or paper streamers to show air cur- 
rents about the windows or near a fire; the air near the 
wall bp.ck of the stove is warmer than that nearer the stove; 
use a stone and a vessel of water to show comparative 
absorptive and radiating powers. 

6. Combine the lessons on "Weather" and the "U. 
S. Weather Bureau" with accurate observations on the 
weather. Procure actual weather maps for study. 

7. As such topics as earthquakes, iron, coal, petro- 
leum, salt, cotton, oysters, sponges, and the like are 
reached, they may be studied from other sources and used 
as a basis for language work. 

8. Add to the work on the great "commercial cities." 
Study one thoroughly and, taking it as a type, compare 
others with it. 

g. Read of the Indians, their schools, etc. 

10. In connection with p. 86, study the Missouri 
supplement, bringing out physical regions, soil, slopes, 
resources, railroads, etc. 

11. Seek after reasons. "As long as the teacher's 
questions all begin with zvhat? or where? he is calling 
upon hie pupils for nothing but the exercise of memory, 



GEOGRAPHY. 



and thev are acquiring information. When he asks how? 

and why? his teaching becomes scientific, he is calling for 

an exercise of judgment and reason, and his pupils are 

acquiring wisdom and power." 

12. The following outline is offered as a guide in the 

study of a grand division and, with some omissions, in the 

study of countries. Prof. King, who ranks as a prince 

among teachers of Geography, advocates the topical 

method of study for all grades, choosing simple topics for 

beginners. One of the chief advantages of the method is 

its stimulation to original thought and investigation. If 

not used to excess it is a great improvement upon the 

"question and answer" method of study and recitation. 

Below appears the suggestive 

OUTLINE. 
I. Position. 

1. Hemispheres — northern, southern, eastern and 
western. 

2. Latitude, longitude, zones. 

3. Boundaries — land, water. 

II. Shape— outline map. 

III. Size — relative, absolute. 

IV. Surface. 

f Ranges. 

Mountain | Slopes. 
Systems. -j Direction. 

I Peaks — volcanoes. 

[ Heights. 
Mountain systems. 
Plateaus. 



Highlands \ 



Valleys. 



2. 



Lowlands 
3. Put on progressive map 



01 • Interior. 

Flams. -,' ^ , 

Coastal. 



212 



THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 



V. 



Drainage. 
I. Water-sheds. 



2. 



River 

Systems 



3. Lakes 



Source. 
Course. 
Length. 
' Uses. 
Tributaries. 
Peculiarities- 
Salt or fresh. 
Inlets, outlets. 
Value. 



-comparisons. 



VI. 



4. Putting on map. 

[ Names. 
I Location. 
Political J Capitals and chief cities. 
Divisions I Soil. 

I Drainage. 
[ Productions. 

( Oceans. 



VII. Natural I 
Divisions I 



VIII. Climate 



Waters 



Land 



Kind 



/ Seas. 

( Straits, etc. 

[ Peninsulas. 

Capes. 

Islands. 
[ Isthmuses. 

[^Temperature. 

! Winds. 



Moisture. 



Causes 



[ Healthfulness. 

Latitude. 
Altitude. 
Winds. 
Currents. 
I, Mountains. 
Slope. 
Moiscure. 
Nearness to sea. 



GEOGRAPHY. 



213 



IX. Produc- 
tions. 



X. Life 



J" Fertile and sterile regions. 
J ( Mineral. 

] Kinds ■< Animal. 
[ ( Vegetable. 

'^ Vegetable. 
Animals. 



Races. 
Population. 

f Agriculture. 

Mining. 

Manufacture. 



Occupa 
tion. 



Human <i 



Commerce 



What? 
How? 



XI. Imaginary journeys •] 

XII. Comparisons throughout 



(^ Fishing, etc. 
Language. 

Manners and customs. 
Education. 
Religion. 
[^ Government. 

For pleasure. 
For trade. 



SEVENTH YEAR. 

The work of this year is a continuation of that of the 
latter part of the sixth. The methods and guiding princi- 
ples remain the same. Judgment as exercised in com- 
parison is always paramount to memory as employed in 
reproducing. 

If time will permit, near the close of the year, take a 
general review deajing with such topics as the following: 

Distribution of heat. 

Uses of winds. 

Ocean currents. 

Regions of rainfall and deserts. 



214 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

Distribution of soil and vegetation. 
Forests and grassy plains. 

Food plants — cereals, tubers, fruits, spices, beverages, 
nuts, sugar-producers. 
Medicinal plants. 
Clothing plants, d3'es, etc. 

Distribution of animals, minerals, metals, men. 
Types of nationality. 
Occupations. 
Commerce. 
Cities. 

GENERAL SUGGESTIONS. 

In closing this chapter a few suggestions general in 
character are offered. In the main, they refer to points 
not brought out in the preceding pages. 

1. Newspapers and magazines are full of valuable 
geographical material — both pictures and reading matter. 
This can be preserved until needed. Pupils can be en- 
listed in the search for such material. 

2. Collections, either "loan" or permanent, ought to 
bring together much useful illustrative material. 

3. Imaginary journeys add interest and profit. "To 
the Klondike," "Three months in Europe," "A trip to the 
Holy Land," are good illustrations. 

4. History and current reading should aid and be 
aided by the v^^ork in Geography. Cultivate the habit of 
locating places in reading. 

5. Draw, not only maps, but other illustrations. 

6. Panoramic views, real or imaginary, are useful. 



GEOGRAPHY. 215 

7. Opening exercises may occasionally take a geo- 
graphical trend. 

8. Advertising matter frequently contains helpful 
material. 

g. Charts to illustrate comparative areas, populations, 
heights, lengths, productions, etc., can be devised and 
made by pupils. 

10. The text-book is but a servant — neither teacher 
nor pupil should belts slave. 



2i6 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 



CHAPTER V. 



HISTORY AND CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 



WHAT HISTORY EMBRACES. 

An account of the joys, hopes, aspirations and strug- 
gles of the human race, showing the logical sequence of 
events or conditions, constitutes its history. What this 
account shall be of an existing government 
History depends largely upon the intelligence and virtue 

Defined. ^ o j r o 

of the people. This is especially true of 
republics. The happiness, the domestic and social wel- 
fare, the material, moral and intellectual developtnent of 
a people depend upon the perpetuity of good government; 
and good government depends upon the foregoing condi- 
tions. History does not consist of disconnected facts, but 
is made up of related facts that follow each other accord- 
ing to the unchanging laws of cause and effect. A text on 
this subject that does not deal with the philosophy of 
history no longer meets the approval of educators. 

The true historian discovers from the multitudinous 
facts of history the cause that produces some great effect; 
from a known effect, he finds the cause. In a republic, 



HISTORY AND CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 217 

where all are equally responsible for the ad- 

• • . r , • , • The 

ministration of trie government in trie interests True 

Historian. 

of the people, it is necessary for each to be a 
historian to some extent, at least. 

The maximum amount that should be known b)' each 
member of society who assumes the responsibilities of 
citizenship has not been determined. The subject is 
almost as wide as has been the field of human activity. 
Every .citizen should possess as much knowledge of the 
subject as his circumstances will allow; and there is a 
minimum below which no one should go. xhe Maximum 
Waiving the point as to what should be the Minimum 

Kuowledge 

maximum amount every citizen should know, °^ History. 
it is an easy matter to determine the minimum. All edu- 
cators agree that every one should have at least an elemen- 
tary knowledge of the history of his own country. A 
great majority of the educators of our country believe that 
our citizens should have a comprehensive knowledge of 
the history of the United States, and an elementary 
of general history, or of the history of England. Certainly 
every inhabitant of our great country should be able to 
know the development, progress, home- life and struggles 
of our own people. 

Every voter should have historic judgment. He can 
have this onl}^ b}' looking into the surrounding conditions 
and comparing them with similar ones in the past, or 
reasoning from effect to cause, or from cause 
to effect, enabling himself to judge of what Historic 

' o _ J o Judgment. 

should be the governmental policy. He then 

should vote as he believes is best for his country. The 



2i8 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

government of the United States seems to be based upon 
the true theory — the theory of equality of all citizens. 
Should not every citizen be able to explain the under- 
lying forces that have brought about every crisis our 
country has gone through? Should he not be able to 
arrive at the truth in regard to the true line of action our 
government should follov; in the settlement of similar 
questions? Should not the forces at work now be under- 
stood in order to know^ whether we are in the path of pro- 
gression or retrogression? Every voter should be fully 
acquainted with all the important facts of our history and 
be able to see the forces at work, and the relation between 
past and present events. When our citizens think for 
themselves on historic questions and draw their own con- 
clusions, or study histories by impartial writers who 
arrive at conclusions consistent with reason, then we will 
have an uncorrupted and incorruptible ballot, and the 
policy of the government will represent the best intelli- 
gence of our people. 

Governments should be the instruments through 

which society in every way betters its condition, giving to 

every member the greatest liberty and the fullest justice. 

The ruling classes too frequently forget that 

The 

Function of they are only the agents of the governed and 

Government. 

oppress the subject. That government is best 
that not only in theory but in practice gives "life, liberty 
and the pursuits of happiness." Our government is based 
upon this theory. Every citizen should be enabled to 
deterynine for himself whether the government is giving 
to him absolute and full justice. 



HISTORY AND CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 219 

Our government is young; the human race is young 
when viewed from the standpoint of time. No history 
goes back further than a few thousand years. Who can 
contradict the statement that history will be 
written 100,000 years from now? All future Age of 

-' Governments. 

time lies before us. The happiness or misery 
of the human beings that are to supersede us— shall we say 
billions of them? — may depend upon forces we put into 
operation. Should we not exercise our trust faithfully? 
Our government has existed only an instant in comparison 
with the time that must necessarily come. 

All mankind must be for some divine purpose — the 
fullfilment of which is perhaps infinitely distant in the 
future. That purpose must be the perfection of man, 

intellectually, socially and morally with a cor- 

,. r • • 11 1 ■ 1 • The 

respondmg perfection mall his relations, — to sphere of 

Man. 

his family, to his neighbors, to all mankind, to 
God. Government has much to do with the happiness of 
the people, and the intelligence of the people has much to 
do with government. If every citizen assists in shaping 
the policy of the government, it follows that his influence 
should be intelligently directed. In order to know the 
policies that have been tried, and the crises through which 
our nation has passed, it is necessary that he study its 
history. 

Since so few of our citizens ever complete the common 
school course, reason would dictate that 
History be placed in the course of study as introduced 

Early. 

early as the student can study it understandingly. 



220 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

THE TEACHING OF HISTORY. 

The actors who make history are human beings. The 
acts they perform have a cause. Every act must occur at 
some place and at some time. A complete knowledge of 
the actors, the acts, the cause of the acts, the place and 
time of the acts would constitute a perfect knowledge of 
the history of that particular period. That instructor is 
the best teacher of history who brings these five things to- 
gether into the child's consciousness in one complete con- 
cept. As a rule these five points should be taught con- 
temporaneously. History is nothing more nor less than an 
account of what has been done by men aided by their best 
intelligence at the time. Then to understand what they 
did, we must understand the people themselves. We 
should be able to see them as they were at the time they 
were making history. We should know how they looked, 
how they dressed, what was their home-life, what were 
their aspirations, the religion they had, the pursuits they 
engaged in, and all about them. An account of these 
things constitutes that silent history that too frequently is 
not recorded in written history. These silent forces are at 
work through the periods of peace, and engross the ener- 
gies of all nations more than the marshaling of military 
forces. These silent forces bring happiness or misery ac- 
cording as they harmonize with or antagonize each other. 
Every individual adds his mite to the stock of material out 
of which this silent history is made. The periods of peace 
far exceed the periods of war. Generations live and die 
engaged in the industrial pursuits, or working out some 
social, political or religious problem. The living genera- 



HISTORY AND CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 221 

tion see dimly the results that are to follow their efforts. 
The historian unblinded by the prejudices of the age, 
looks back and sees the guiding principles that controlled 
the destiny of the departed generation. 

Having seen the actors, we find what they did. We 
find that people differ in their relations toward one an- 
other, and in their relations toward the established govern- 
ment. In the former case, we find industrial, social and 
religious differences. The clashing of interests may be 
mild and of short duration, or it may be violent and long- 
continued. In the one case, we have local peculiarities; in 
the other we may have race or national prejudices. 

Men differ in their ideas as to the function of govern- 
ment. This we call political difference. Here we have 
the origin of political parties. All who believe that a 
certain political policy should be carried out arrange 
themselves on one side of the question, and all who be- 
lieve in some other policy arrange themselves on the other 
side into another party. In this way we have each party 
opposing what the other advocates and proposing some- 
thing in its stead. This policy is formulated and called a 
platform. These platforms are modified from time to time 
as the interests of the people change, or as a given declar- 
ation is found unwise or inexpedient. Just what shall be 
the function of government will always be a living ques- 
tion. When the people fail to discuss this feature, the 
ruling class take more and more power from them, and 
impose burden after burden till their condition becomes 
unbearable, and revolution is the logical result. Official 
oppression leads to violent conflicts and tremenduous 



222 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

political upheavals. The industrial, social or religious 
conflict, and the clash of arms between opposing forces are 
but the culmination of a multitude of events all having the 
same tendenc)'.* The teaching of history would require 
that these conflicting interests be pointed out clearly, and 
the causes clearly shown for the antagonism. True history 
deals with causes and effects. No teacher does justice to 
the subject till these are shown. The philosophy of 
history will be retained by students; dry facts will not be. 

Geography goes hand in hand with histor\'. Geogra- 
phy describes the stage on whith the drama that history 
narrates was played. The play would be unreal if the 
acting were shown without the stage. The incidents of 
real history were intensely active, calling for the energies 
and even the lives of by-gone generations, and the field 
upon which they were enacted influenced the actors, and 
what they did. The topography of a country determines 
its boundaries, influences its commerce, gives victories or 
brings defeats to its armies, modifies the temper and even 
the religion of its people. How could history be taught 
without' geography? 

The last element is time. Some dates are necessary. 
They should mark the beginning and close of epochs. 
They should mark great historic events, and serve as 
pivotal points around which to group a series of 
events. 1492, 1607, 1620, 1643, 1660, 1763, 1776, 1789 
1812, 1820, i860 should suggest events that are vital in 
our history. Students should be perfectly familiar with 
important dates, but should not be required to waste valu- 
able time and energy upon unimportant and meaningless 



HISTORY AND CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 223 

dates. The actor, the act, the cause for the act, and the 
place of the act are each more important than the time. 
In the teaching of history the order of importance is as 
suggested above. 

SPECIAL METHODS OF TEACHING THE 
ADOPTED HISTORIES. 

The first object of the study of history is information 
about past events. The style and language of Morris's 
Elementary History are attractive. Any student in the 
fourth reader who reads will have no difficulty in getting 
the "History" lesson. Lessons that are truly understood 
are not forgotten. A boy retains all that he sees, hears 
and experiences, better than older persons do. He will 
also remember what is brought into consciousness equally 
well, although it may come through the book. The 
teacher must train him in seeing the whole scene presented 
to him through the language of the lesson. The exercises 
in testing the student's ability to reproduce the thought of 
the reading lessons will be valuable in testing his ability to 
give the history lesson. The student who "sees" the 
most in a history lesson is the best prepared. 

The scenes should be made as realistic as possible. 
As previously suggested, the people, their customs, dress, 
religion, the things they do, the geographical position of 
the act, the time of the act and all about it 

... Preparation 

should be developed. The first requisite is the of the 

Lesson. 

preparation of the lesson, or the reading of it. 

Upon taking up the subject it would be a good plan for 

the teacher to read aloud a lesson as though he were 



32^ THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

Studying it. In so doing read the lesson through, and as- 
you do so show what thoughts or pictures come into the 
mind. It should not be pursued as a memory exercise, 
but as a living topic full of interest, full of thought. Each 
lesson should at its first reading place in the mind an out- 
line of a grand picture. The second reading should develop 
the details of this picture and add many features and 
characteristics that were not seen at first. The third 
reading should further develop the parts already seen in 
dim outline, and add beauties that were not seen at first, 
with colorings and tintings that make the whole 
consistent and true to life. Such a picture would 
bring out the geographical back-ground, the actors 
as they act, or would be a historic panorama. 
Seeing the relations is essential. When scenes are 
developed in this way, tiiey can not be forgotten, for they 
are fixed in the mind and are a part of it. The training 
in study or in developing these pictures is one of the first 
requisites, for the student does for himself, according to 
rational methods, what otherwise has to be given to him 
through the teacher — in other words he does his own study- 
ing. 

In taking up the subject your plan should be unfolded 

to the class. It is better to go slowly till all have this 

ability. Too many make the study one of memory. Teach 

History through the representative powers and 

Acquaint ... ,^,, ... 

Students with imagmation When any historic scene is 

Your Plan. 

brought into consciousness any student will 
find language to express what he knows. He knows some- 
thing and can tell it, and will be anxious to tell it. He 



HISTORY AND CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 225 

can soon be trained to give the chief features of the 
picture and then all minor scenes that enter into these 
leading features to make the whole scene complete. 

The student should be able to take up the lesson and 
tell the whole contents. He can do so if he has it safely 
stored away in consciousness. All he has to do is to 
draw on his fund, for he has, like the mountain spring, a 
constant supply on hand. Memory work as 

Each student 

frequently relied upon is not memory of facts, ^\?t^'^y° 
but of meaningless words. The words are ^'^^^°"- 
memorized with difiticulty and are given with difficulty, be- 
cause there are no ideas behind them to suggest them. 
Words should be "signs of ideas." The energy spent in 
an exercise of this kind would prepare the lesson in such a 
way as to increase the student's stock of knowledge. Such 
a memory exercise has no value whatever. True memory 
work has its advantages, for it reproduces what is in the 
mind — not the words, but the ideas — the words being 
only the means of expressing the ideas. Then in teaching 
History the work should be based upon laws of mental 
development. The student should interpret the lessons as 
a whole, and each other student should be ready to sup- 
ply any part of the scene that the first did not get, or to 
point out inconsistencies that appear, or to harmonize 
them into one complete historic scene. There are many 
aids that result in securing the result sought. However, 
they only assist in developing this picture and in placing 
it permanently in consciousness. The writers of histories 
realize that impressions are deepest and more lasting and 
often nearer the truth when they are placed in conscious- 



226 THE xMISSOURI SUPERVIbOR. 

ness in as many ways as possible. Historians, therefore, 
express thoughts by means of words, relying upon the 
pupil to interpret them in the same sense, and with the 
same elaborateness with whicli they are used. The child 
having had a limited experience, as compared with the 
author, does not get the same well-defined concept from 
the lesson as was in the mind of the author. Realizing 
this fact, they adopt language that the child is familiar 
with— that is, language that will have the same meaning 
to the student as it has to the author, viz., common lan- 
guage, or language that the child understands through his 
own experience. Some scenes or descriptions of history 
can not be so expressed. The author must, therefore, use 
language or, at least, some terms beyond the pupils'ability 
to grasp. In such cases the student must rely upon his 
dictionary or his teacher for an explanation 
Dictionary. of these. Upon this point the duty of the 
teacher is clear. He should first see that all 
members of the class know the meaning of these terms. 
The learning of these terms is a part of the preparation of 
the lesson. The teacher must see that all have prepared 
it, so far as is in their ability. It then becomes his duty to 
explain or elaborate any term or circumstances brought out. 
Authors realizing the difficulty of presenting scenes in 
language that can be understood, introduce pictures to 
explain or amplify what it is to be expressed. A picture 
appeals to consciousness through the eye and makes vivid 
the impressions that would otherwise be dim. The use of 
pictures in the teaching of history can scarcely be over- 
estimated. 



.HISTORY AND CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 227 

The illustrations were placed in the books for usa 
The study of pictures is in itself valuable. The teacher 
should discuss the illustrations with the class and each 
member should be encouraged to "see" as much as he can, 
and to tell all about the illustration. The pictures repre- 
sent in a vivid form scenes or persons in such a way as to 
make the impression lasting. 

Morris's History is well illustrated, and the scenes 
should be made to stand out and appear to be before the 
gaze of the class. These pictures appeal to students of 
all ages, and especially to those of the 5th, 6th or 7th 
grade. The illustration is often more valuable than the 
rest of the lesson. Prof. Shinn, recognizing the value of 
illustrations, has placed more than 150 m his History of 
the American People. Almost anywhere that the book 
may be opened an illustration will be found. By examin- 
ing any of our leading histories the universal importance 
attached to this aid in teaching Historj^ will be recognized. 

It is not enough to rely wholly upon the illustrations 
given in our books. The teacher or board should provide 
a number of large pictures of historic personages or scenes 
and place them upon the walls to serve as 

Historic 

decorations, and as an inspiration to all the scenesas 

^ School-room 

classes, especially history classes. The silent ^^'^°^^^^°^^- 
influence they exert upon students who have not yet taken 
up the subject as a formal study will be marked. 

Both Morris's and Shinn's histories contain a large 
number of maps. The geographical location of any his- 
toric event is necessary to a full understanding of it. The 
cause leading to success is often brous^ht out in a 



228 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

Maps. map. The occupations, religions and in- 

dustrial systems are influenced by the geo- 
graphical position of a people. The success of an invading 
army is determined by the same cause. The position 
chosen for a fortification or for a battle-field is determmed 
by the same condition. We have but to look at the map 
of the "South" to see why slavery was profitable, and at the 
map of the "North" to know why it was unprofitable there. 
We have but to see the map of New England to see why 
the people are engaged in manufacturing, and with this 
seen, we understand why they are almost unanimously in 
favor of a Protective Tariff. We see the great cattle in- 
dustries of Texas and the states of the West, and under- 
stand why in the late war the Union forces wished to get 
possession of the Mississippi river and cut this section off 
from the rest of the South. We see the hills and moun- 
tains of Virginia and their proximity to the North and un- 
derstand why more battles were fought upon its soil than 
upon any other. There is scarcely an event in history that 
is not influenced by geographical conditions. Outside of the 
influence that Geography has upon History, it is necessary 
in teaching in order to locate the events as they transpired. 
The mind holds events that are located. They can not 
appear as real unless the place of the enactment is fixed. 
Perhaps all good teachers of this subject agree upon this 
point. 

To intensify the teaching the following special sug- 
gestions are made: 

[. Assigning the Lesson. Care should be used in 
assigning a lesson. A short lesson thoroughly developed 



HISTORY AND CIVIL GOVERNiMENT. 229 

is worth more than long lessons poorly prepared and 
recited. 

2. Thorotigh Preparation. The teacher should know 
the time required to prepare the lesson and should encour- 
age students to use the time suggested in 

intense study. A concentration of the mind upon special 

-' -^ ^ Su,a;gestion5. 

the lesson for thirty minutes is worth more to iJie 

student than one hour in aimless study. Teachers must 

train their students to study — to concentrate their minds. 

3. Map Study. Have the class make a careful study 
of all maps given by the author. These should be repro- 
duced upon the board or on paper, from memor}'. The 
student should explain these with reference to the subject 
under consideration. A student will frequently say, with 
no intention of deceiving, that he understands the map 
when he, in fact, does not. When he draws the map, 
there is no chance for his deceiving himself or the teacher. 

4. Wall-AIaps. A large historical map should be 
made for the benefit of the room. Almost any railroad 
company will send maps free to teachers upon request. 
On one of these the teacher can mark off the "Original 
Thirteen States," the "Confederate States," the "Louisiana 
Purchase," the lands obtained by the Mexican War, the 
"North West Territory," and still not have the map 
crowded. 

This can be marked off in hve minutes, in different 
colors, or in the same colors with solid and broken lines to 
distinguish each division. A piece of folded paper will 
answer for a brush and ordinary red and black ink will 
take the place of paint. 



230 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

Where maps are not procured, have a large map in 
outline placed upon the board at the beginning of the 
term and filled in as leading events occur. Colored crayon 
should be used to mark different divisions. 

5. The Itistitutions — home, church, school, business 
and government — should be traced through their different 
stages of development. These five are fundamental ele- 
ments in the history of any nation, and should be kept 
constantl}' in mind. 

6. Supplementary Reading. Other school histories, 
and reference books should be consulted by both teacher 
and pupils. Articles from magazines, newspapers and 
school journals are valuable aids in intensifying the sub- 
jects under consideration. 

Poems are among the best means of bringing out his- 
torical facts. "Grandmother's Story of The Battle of 
Bunker Hill" fixes indelibly an event that marks an epoch 
in our history. "Liberty Bell" makes vivid the scenes 
connected with the Declaration of Independence. Our 
books teem with articles, both prose and poetrj-, that are 
most valuable as supplementar}^ to the History Lesson. 

7. Biographies of typical characters will do much to- 
wards making the History facinating. Historical characters 
are but typical of the whole people, and when we learn 
about one we know substantially about all. Strong per- 
sonalities are brought out and viewed in the light of 
history as models to be imitated or as undesirable examples 
to follow, as the case may be. Characters of students are 
built up by studying characters of typical men. In the 
study of biographies, students learn the elements that 



HISTORY AND CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 231 

brought success to otliers. Biography strengthens charac- 
ter and fixes high ideals in the minds of students. The 
boy who can recognize a hero has in his mind the ele- 
ments that make up a hero, and with this information 
comes the desire to be a hero. From the student's stand- 
point biography is inestimable. The life of Washington, 
Jefferson, Lincoln, or any other great American would be 
valuable home-reading for any member of the history 
class. The teacher who can induce a student to read a 
good biography has rendered him a great service. 

S. Oiitliues are valuable and can be used to good ad- 
vantage where the class is large and the teacher wishes to 
test all upon the work. Each student should be encouraged 
to provide himself with a book for the purpose of outlining 
the entire subject. In this way the student's knowledge 
becomes systematized. The same general classification 
should be followed as is followed by the authors of our 
adopted books. There is one danger here: He may rely 
too much upon his book and pencil. 

9. Debates. To stimulate investigation and to de- 
velop historic judgment a debate occasionally, conducted 
according to parliamentary usages, will be most helpful. 
Teachers who have never tried this plan will be surprised 
at the results. 

10. Omission of Details. Many unimportant details 
may be omitted. "Killed," '-wounded," "missing," "ac- 
companied by two Indians and his dog," etc., add but 
little to an account of some important event. The teacher 
who regards such details as history should hasten to 
change his view. 



232 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

II. TJic Teacher. The teacher must know his sub- 
ject and must be interested in it before he can successfully 
teach it. The hard-working, thoughtful teacher will find 
new ways daily of interesting a class. 

CIVIL GOVERNMENT AND HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

By reference to the Course of Study found elsewhere 
in this book, it will be seen that three plans of teaching 
Civil Government and History of Missouri are proposed. 

It is not deemed advisable to enter into a full dis- 
cussion of this subject as it is not thought that teachers 
will have any serious difficulties in teaching it. We, there- 
fore, offer the following brief 

OBSERVATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 

1. Some of the merits of the first plan are as follows: 
The History of Missouri will be an admirable work to follow 
Morris's Elementary History and to accompany Shinn's 
History through the periods of discovery, settlement and 
development of the colonies. The Civil Government of 
the United States and of Missouri is made to accompany 
Shinn's History through the constitutional period. 

2. Some teachers, no doubt, will prefer the second 
plan for the reason that an elementary knowledge of 
history is given in the sixth year, and that it is desirable 
to give a student a knowledge of civil government as 
early in his school life as is consistent with a thorough 
understanding of the subject. 

Other teachers will prefer the third plan in order to 
intensify the teaching of the various topics, and to give a 



HISTORY AND CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 233 

longer time for mental growth in these subjects. 

4. Whatever plan may be adopted, it is desirable 
that students recite with real interest. 

5. In civil government, the departments of govern- 
ment should be outlined by the students and developed as 
they are divided and subdivided, each subdivision being 
traced to the larger division of which it is a part. 

6. In speaking of officers, name those representing 
the students in the various capacities, as governor, etc. 

7. Make use of the proceedings of Congress from 
day to da}'. 

8. Make use as they occur, of the political proceed- 
ings of parties in the nomination of officers. 

9. Have the pupils to make a map of the United 
States, showing United States judicial circuits, and the 
United States districts in Missouri. 

10. Have Missouri drawn, "showing congressional 
districts, naming representatives from the student's dis- 
trict and from adjoining districts. 

11. Use historical events to intensify principles laid 
down in the constitution. 

12. Make the present administration an example to 
show^ how the affairs of government have been conducted 
in the past. 

13. Teach the philosophy of government. Discon- 
nected facts are worth but little. The main subjects 
should be elaborated by the pupils, and bound together 
into a consistent whole. 

14. The similarity between our state and national 
governments should be shown. 



234 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

15. The suggestions upon the United States consti 
tution are, in the main, applicable to the state govern- 
ment. 

16. These subjects should be taught in such a way 
as to arouse in the student a desire to perform all of the 
political functions devolving upon him as a citizen of the 
greatest and best republic that ever existed. 

17. The history of Missouri should make us all 
proud of our grand state and to do what we can, as citi- 
zens, to build up her institutions, and develop her re- 
sources. The history of Missouri has been neglected, and 
should be so no longer. 

18. Teachers should know their subjects in all 
branches before the}' attempt to teach them. Since this 
subject has been so neglected, special preparation should 
be made to make it interesting from the beg:innin2:. 



PHYSIOLOGY. 235 



CHAPTER VI. 



PHYSIOLOGY. 



Referen'Ce to the course of stud)' (page 37) will reveal 
two important recommendations: first, that lessons on the 
human body begin with the first year and extend through 
the course; second, that text-book physiologj' be deferred 
to the eighth, or last year. It is believed that these 
recommendations are wise. They are based upon the 
theory that the general facts of physiology and 
How Much? a helpful knowledge of hygiene can be obtained 
from the oral lessons of the first seven years, 
and that with an additional year devoted to consecutive 
daily study the pupil will acquire a satisfactory degree of 
familiarity with the entire subject. Eight years is a long 
time to devote to a single subject, and when we consider 
the aims of physiology teaching in our public schools, we 
must admit that even moderate progress should take the 
pupil over the entire journey. 

For the best results from the study of this subject, it 
is desirable that it should be studied correctly as far as 
possible. In lessons on bones, let the bones be examined. 
Where illustrations can be shown or demonstrations made> 



236 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

let them not be omitted. By means of specimen parts 
obtained from the butcher or the farmer at "butchering- 
time" the parts of the human bod}' can be better taught. 
Constant reference should be made to the pupil's own body 
and the parts located. A child ought to know whether 
his liver is in his abdomen or his left breast, and yet a pop- 
ular institute worker tells of the varied results obtained 
from the direction, "Put your hand over your liver," and 
he was talking to teachers. 

A few of the points to be emphasized are these: 

1. The sanctity of a pure and healthy bodw 

2. The dependence of happiness and usefulness upon 
a good bod}'. 

3. General bodily hygiene. 

4. Hygienic conditions — air, food, water, exercise, 
sleep. 

5. Emergencies — what to do till the doctor arrives. 

6. Effects of tobacco and alcohol. 

7. Drawing as a means of expression and a test of 
comprehension. 

On the other hand, there are a few to be avoided. 
The following are examples: 

1. "Book work," i. e. , memorizing what the book 
says in the exact manner it says it. 

2. Attaching significance to the names of the various 
muscles and bones — particularly those of "learned length. " 

3. Contradicting class teaching with actual living. 



VERTICAL WRITING. 



237 



CHAPTER VII, 



VERTICAL WRITING. 



A GREAT majorit}' of Missouri teachers have never 
(April, i8g8) taught vertical writing. The system has 
come to stay at least five years, and perhaps permanentlv. 
It is necessary therefore for all Missouri teachers 

1 1 • r 1 1 J^iis 

to learn tlie merits of the system at the start, vertical 

System. 

and not wait till they "pick them up." A great 

majorit}' of the teachers who have tested it pronounce it a 

great improvement over the system formerly used. 

No teacher should pronounce the system good till he 
has tested it, nor pronounce it a failure until that fact is 
demonstrated. In considering the merits of any text-book 
the objects for which it is intended should be 

r r • iTiT • • • 1 Writing 

of first importance. Writing is meant to be a Practical 

Subject. 

read. Writing is a "practical" subject and 
should be given more attention by the country teachers, 
and by a great many in the villages and cities, than it 
receives. In hundreds of districts no attention is given 
to the subjects at all. Why? Much time is given to 
"practical" subjects. What is more "practical" than 
writing? W^e have almost daily use for writing, and use 



238 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

it many times as often as we do the very popular subject 
of Arithmetic. 

Every pupil has the right to demand that he be given 

the ability to write a letter with pen and ink within his 

first school year. Every teacher should feel that the 

present is the last year that the six-year-old is 

From 

the Student's gomg to attend school; that all the training for 

standpoint. 

the business affairs of life will be given in this 
year. Were this the case, would it not be our duty to 
confer this ability as early as possible? Then is it not 
our duty to do so anyway? The reply that it can not be 
done can not be accepted, for it is being done by hundreds 
of teachers. 

From the teacher's standpoint there is perhaps no 
subject by which he can do more legitimate advertising 
than through the writing. The written exercise, the spell- 
ing, the language lesson or a letter written on 

From' 

the Teacher's a slatc or tablet Sent home by the little boy or 

standpoint. 

girl for inspection, will do much toward 
strengthening the teacher in the estimation of the patrons. 
The written work of a school is a good test of the work 
being done. If a teacher can find time for any subject the 
writing lesson should not be omitted. 

SPECIAL SUGGESTIONS UPON TEACHING VERTICAL WRITING. 

1. The teacher should be acquainted with every 
detail of the system in use. 

2. The time assigned in the program to this subject 
should not be encroached upon by any other subject. 

3. At the opening of the recitation, have the students 



VERTICAL WRITING. 239 

appointed for that purpose distribute the material quickly 
and quietly. 

4. Only three things are necessar}^ in writing: i. A 
correct conception of the letter or word; 2. Training of 
the muscles till this mental image can be projected upon 
the paper or board; 3. Practice till the correct form be- 
comes automatic. Before beginning have the class to 
examine the copy to be written. Call attention to any 
features that need special attention. Write any letter or 
word on the board that presents any special difficulty, the 
class observing the way the work is done. To impress 
the form of a word upon the mind, it is often a good plan 
to have pupils look from the book and imagine how it 
appears. Have the class trace it in space with you. Next 
have each write the letter or word on practice paper. Next 
have each to compare his work with the copy, and see 
where it differs. The teacher should also note where the 
students fail to execute the work properly. The object is 
to get a clear and correct concept of the form of a letter in 
the mind, and then to train the hand to project this mental 
image upon the paper. No student with an incorrect 
concept can write a correct form. The object of the 
repeated attempt is to train the muscles in executing the 
correct form — in establishing the correct muscular habit. 
When the student has put forth his best effort, and has 
reached something like the best results, allow him to put a 
definite amount in his copy book. Impress upon him that 
the copy book is to be used to put his specimens in, and 
should be a model of cleanliness, neatness and correctness. 
Teach the students that it is not Junu mucJi but how well 



240 THE MISSOLRI SUPERVISOR. 

they do their work that gives them skill. The practice 
paper should be used at least each alternate day. In mixed 
schools, the teacher should pass from class to class, first 
fixing the mental images while the other classes are writing. 
All members of a class should work in concert. Some will 
want to go in advance of the others. Do not permit them 
to do so. 

5. On the day the copy-book is used give a definite 
number of lines to be written, and see that each does no 
more. Train the students to continue to compare their 
writing with the correct form, the copy. The last line the 
student writes upon a page should be the best one. If it 
is not, the teacher can rest assured that the student has 
ceased to examine his copy. When the student approxi- 
mates the correct form, practice is necessary to establish 
the habit of correct writing, and as the habit of correct 
writing strengthens, correct writing becomes more and 
more automatic. 

6. When the teacher sees that several are meeting 
the same difficulty, he should have the class stop their 
work, and show on the board what the error is and how to 
correct it. If only one or two are making it, he can show 
them individually. 

7. To meet with complete success the student must 
have a desire to write correctly. Show that correct writ- 
ing comes from the correct mental "picture" of the letters, 
being traced out by the muscles. Show him that the mus- 
cular part is the result of habit. Do so in this v;ay: Have 
several students go to the board and write any line you 
may dictate. When they have done so, challenge each to 



VERTICAL WRITING. ^41 

write it in a difierent "hand" immediately below. They 
can not do so — because they have formed a writing habit. 
Show them that it will take time to establish a correct 
writing habit, but when once formed it is as hard to break 
as the incorrect was. 

8. Give attention to the general appearance of the 
writing books. See that the margins are of proper width, 
that too much ink is not used; that there are no ink spots 
on the paper; that the writing is uniform in size through- 
out any page. Call attention to the fact that the curves 
are very round and that a large number of the letters are 
modifications of the vertical straight line. 

g. Require all written work to be done neatly and 
according to the vertical system. Students will not like to 
do this at first, but it is best for them to make the change 
at once. If they continue to use the slant writing in writ- 
ten work and the vertical in the writing books, they are 
working against themselves. We learn writing for its use. 
We should learn it in the form that we use it. 

10. The change will be distasteful to teachers and 
pupils at first. The teacher can do much towards making 
it popular by telling the students that it is new to them, 
and they will like it in a short time. In a large majority 
of cases this is true. Students like it better than the old 
system because it is easier. Teachers like it better because 
they get better results in shorter time. 

By permission of D. C. Heath & Co., the publishers, 
the following extracts have been taken from the "Teach- 
ers' Manual" that accompanies the adopted writing books. 



242 THE MISSOURI^SUPERVISOR. 

They are from the authors of the "National System of 
Vertical Writing," Messrs. A. F. Newlands and R. K. 
Row, and represent the best thought upon the subject. 

SPECIAL FEATURES. 

The Natural System presents a much narrower page 
than most copy-books. In the plan of the books the 
needs of very young beginners have been first considered. 
It is realized that most writing, even by adults, is done 
upon very narrow note paper, and that it is 
Pa""^"^'^ when the beginner tries to carry the pen more 
than a few inches to the right of the median 
line of the .body that the mischievous twist of the body 
begins. Therefore the narrowest page consistent with 
the presentation of a connected sentence for copy is the 
best for the beginner. 

The Natural System uses only a base line, thus 
leaving a fair, clear, and attractive space for the pupil's 
work and presenting an absolutely hygienic page. An- 
other great mistake, akin to the use of space- 
No Guide . . . . 
Lines or rulmg IS the use of tracing copies. The reason 

Tracing Copies 

for their introduction was probably the same; 
namely, to compel, as far as possible, the young child to 
make the letter forms precisely the same as the copy. 
They sometimes accomplish this purpose, and the work is 
shown by teachers and others as an exhibition of marvel- 
ous skill. As a matter of fact it only shows how children 
can be led to work at such stupid and stupefying toil as 
guiding the point of the pen up and down, in and out, 
along a maze of lines usually so faintly printed as to be 



VERTICAL WRITING. 243 

trying to the eyes. While engaged in this senseless, 
wasteful, harmful practice it is impossible for a child to 
really see the form of the letters, and the work in no way 
demands that he should observe them. Whereas, learn- 
ing to write requires that one should perceive clearly, not 
the whole essential form of the letter to be made, but also 
its relation to adjacent letters in the word. 

The authors of the Natural System of Vertical 
Writing have, in pursuance of their plans to confront the 
beginner with as few difficulties as possible, presented 
letter-forms as nearly like those of print as is 

. simplification 

consistent with ease in making the form with of Letter- 
Forms. 

a pen. The result is that any child who can 

read print can read the letters of this system at sight, and 

has to learn practically but one form of the letter. 

The Natural System conforms exactly to the hygienic 
principle, that as the first movements of the child are 
made by means .of the large muscles which are first devel- 
oped, and are therefore movements of a vague 
character and imperfectly controlled, whereas Large 

^ J ' Copies. 

skillfully made movements of a minute sort 
depend on the small muscles which are latest differentiated 
and brought under control, it is in the highest degree 
wrong to set children to copying small letters made with 
hair lines. It is wholly unnatural for young children to 
make small forms, and undesirable that they should; they 
tire and become irritable if forced to do it. Observe their 
sewing and drawing as well as their unrestricted writing. 
Moreover, the correct form is much more easily and clearl}' 
perceived in large forms than in small ones, and the move- 



244 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

ment used is infinitely freer and more natural. All persons 
familiar with kindergarten practice know the revolution 
which is taking place in- it and the greatl}' increased size 
of the objects now used as well as the great increase in 
amplitude of the movements and the manipulations now 
required. So far from the ultimate size of letter being the 
proper one for a beginner, the child should be confronted 
with a very large copy, made with very emphatic and 
clearly distinguishable lines in which the letter form can 
be clearl}^ seen and studied, and the size of the letters 
should be gradually reduced as the pupil's control of his 
muscles increases. The importance of this principle can- 
not be overstated. Moreover, it is recognized that the 
size of the letter which the child will ultimately make will, 
and properly so, depend upon his own choice, and not 
upon an arbitrar}' standard of the copy-book. Every one 
knows that not all the school drill of the past has been 
able to establish a uniform size of letter or control the 
size of handwriting beyond the school period. In business 
and social life every person finally adopts and uses the 
size of letter which his taste, temperament, and con- 
venience dictate, and the great diversity in this matter no 
more excites comment or thought than do the different 
sizes of type used in books or in the headlines and news 
columns of our daily papers. 

In the Natural System the proportion between the 
height of the short letters on the one hand, and the stem, 

loop and capital letters on the other, is the very 
Proportion. simplest One that the mind can entertain, viz. : 

The height of the short letters is half that of 
the stem, loop and capital letters. 



VERTICAL WRITING. 245 

In most copy-books the first drill is upon single letters 
or even upon a fragment of a letter, a process of course 
monotonous, and lacking interest to the child. 
The Natural System begins with letters group- Grouping, 
ed in words, and words of real interest to the 
children. This is in strict accordance with the modern 
method of teaching reading, and we think will be recog- 
nized as right. 

MATERIALS. 

It has been found that the most hj'gienic school desk 
is one having a slope of at least fifteen degrees, adjustable 
as to height and distance from the pupil. In vertical 
writing it is essential that all lines shall be 

11 1-1 1 Desk, 

Strong, hence the pens must be 01 at least med- Pens and 

Pencils. 

ium breadth and firmness, and very smooth. 
Pen and ink should be used from the first. In schools 
where provision is not made for the use of pens and ink 
in the lowest grade a substitute will be found in a large, 
soft pencil. 

THE WRITING LESSON. 

It must be remembered that the child daes not try to 
reproduce directly on paper the cop}' before him. It is 
rather the mental image acquired by looking at the word 
or letter that his hand tries to represent on 

, j-^ . Training in 

the paper. Hence, an nnportant part 01 the Getting clear 

Concepts. 

writing lesson is to train the pupils in accurate 
perception of the forms and relations of the letters. This 
requires on the part of the pupil a careful, scrutinizing 



246 THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 

observation of each word of the copy so that the first 
general perception of the word as a whole is followed by a 
detailed analytic perception of the letters, their propor- 
tions, and relations, and then a re-grouping of these de- 
tailed concepts in a clear image of the whole word. For 
this reason when taking up a new copy, especially in the 
primary grades, it is best for the pupils to have separate 
sheets of practice paper. Let the pupils look at the copy 
for a short time, then close the copy-book and write it on 
their practice paper. They should then open the book, 
compare their reproduction with the copy, and this should 
be repeated until the pupils show that they have a fair 
concept of the form of the cop}. 

While it is desirable to cultivate a reasonable degree 
of freedom, especiall}' in the higher grades, there should 
be no careless work in the copy-books. If a pupil mani- 
fests a disposition to scribble, he should be 

Allow 110 . . . 

Careless limited to the practice paper until he shows 

Writing. 

that he is willing to do his best. Let the writ- 
ing of a copy in the book be a privilege, to be accorded in 
the first place as a sort of promotion from the initial lesson 
on the practice paper, and subject to forfeiture at any time 
subsequently, upon unmistakable evidence of indifference. 
No one need expect good results in writing who 
insists upon careful work onl}^ during the few minutes of 
the special writing lesson, and then permit carelessness 

in all other written work. In the public school 

Ordinary .... , . , , . . 

Class course all writing must be considered trainmg 

Writing. 

in writing, and more depends upon the wa}' the 
pupils are led to do their general work than upon 



VERTICAL WRITING. 247 

special preparations for, or skill in conducting the special 
lesson. 

What has been said of the formative force of the 
pupil's general work is also true of the teacher's work. 
The teacher whose blackboard writing is uniformly neat 
and legible, will generall}' have a class of uni- 

. The Teacher's 

formly good writers, and one whose general General 

Writing. 

work is indifferent or poor will find these char- 
acteristics reflected in the work of his class. 



24S THE MISSOURI SUPERVISOR. 



APPENDIX. 



REFERENCE BOOKS AND SUPPLEMENTARY READING. 

In the preparation of the following lists two general 
aims have been kept in view — to select books that would 
be especially helpful in the teaching of the Adopted Text- 
Books, and such as would impart a desirable type of culture 
including a taste for good literature. While the books are 
classified under "Language," -'History," etc., it must be 
remembered that a book that is suitable reading for the 
work in Geography can be made the basis for work in 
Language. In short, the several forms of mental culture 
are related and inter-dependent. 

The books named in these lists can be procured from 
several publishers whom we can recommend as reliable. 

In the accompanying lists the following abbreviations 
are employed: 

A — American Book Co., Chicago. 

Ap — D. Appleton & Co., New York. 

B — Boston School Supply Co., Boston. 

E — Educational Pub. Co., Boston. 

Es — Estes & Lauriat, Boston. 

G — Ginn & Co., Chicago. 



APPENDIX. 



249 



Ha — Harper Bros., New York. 

He — D. C. Heath & Co., Chicago. 

H & M— Houghton, Mifflui & Co., Chicago. 

L — Lee & Shepard, Boston. 

P — Public School Pub. Co., Bloomington, 111. 

S — Chas. Scribner's Sons, New York. 





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4. Aunt Martha's Corner Cup- 

board. 

5. King's Geog. Readers, L. 

6. All the Year Round. 

7. World and Its People, S. 

8. Stories of Industry. 


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1. Cats and Dogs, A. 

2. Stories for Children, A. 

3. Heart of Oak Series, H. 

4. Five Cent Cla.ssics, E. 

See Reading and Litera- 
ture. 


1-4. Same as first grade. 

5. Fairy Stories and Fables, A. 

6. Friends in Feathers and 

Fur, A. 

7. Stories of Great Ameri- 

cans, A. 

8. Stories of Industry, E. 


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1. Fables and Folk Stories, 

H. cS:: M. 

2. Hans Andersen's Stories. 

H. & M. 

3. .^i.sop's Fables, Vol. II. E. 

4. Verse and Prose for Begin- 

ners, H. & M. 


1. Fifty Famous Stories, A. 

2. Robinson Crusoe for Little 

Folk.s, E. 

3. See 4, Grade Second. 


1. Robin.son Crusoe, A. 

2. Selection from Whittier's 

Child Life in Prose, H. & 
M. 




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1. stories of Other Lands, A. 

2. American History Stories. 

Vol. II, E. 

3. Our Fatherland, E. 

4. .See 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, Lan- 

guage. 


1. Holmes' Grandmother's 

Story of Battle of Bunker 
Hill," H. & M. 

2. American History Stories, 

Vol. Ill, E. 


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Nearly all of foregoing: 2, 5, 8. As above. 

12. Story of Troy, A. 9. Carpenter's Geography 

13. Life of Ijncoln, E. Reading, H. 

14. Pioneer Hist, Stories, P. 

15. .Story of Troy, A. 

16. Greek Heroes, G. 


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Same as Sixth. 

11. Johonnot's Geography 
Reading, A. 

12. Zig Zags, Es. 




Shaler's Fir.st Book of 

Geology, Ap. 
Methods and Aids in 

Geography, King, L. 


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1. Hawthorne's Grandlather's 

Chair,(three parts)H.&M. 

2. Longfellow's Hiawatha, H. 

& M. 





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xK 


1. Evangeline, H. & M. 

2. Addi.son's DeCoverlj' 

Papers, G. 

3. Studies in I^ongfellow, 

Whittier, Holmes and 
Lowell, H. & M. 


1. Lowell's Vision of .Sir Laun- 

fal and Other Pieces, H. 
& M. 

2. .Snow Bound, He. 

3. Scott's Lady of the Lake, G 


Masterpieces of American 
Liturature, H. & M. 

Masterpieces of British 
Literature. H. & M. 


FIFTH. 


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